Film Review: Thirteen

  "Thirteen"

 **** (out of ****)

A young girl stares directly into the camera, holding the side of her face, as if she's discovering a new land. She declares she can't feel anything and wants someone to hit her. A hand from off camera smacks her. Eventually both individuals are revealed to us as two teenage girls. They start taking turns slapping and punching each other, while hysterically laughing.

This unsettling opening sequence immediately establishes "Thirteen" (2003) will be a film about abuse and a plea for help, as the lead character looks into the camera at us. We are the ones the girl is speaking to and we must witness her downward spiral. 

The troubled teens are Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) and Evie (Nikki Reed). On it's surface it would appear to be a tale of an innocent girl (Tracy) who gets mixed-up with the wrong crowd and falls under the harmful influence of a popular bad girl (Evie).

But "Thirteen" isn't a simple tale and first time director Catherine Hardwicke recognizes the complexity of the situation. There are no "good" or "bad" characters. Instead there are individuals who are products of their environments.

The scene is set by establishing Tracy is a sweet, innocent kid. She even puts her hair up in pigtails, walks the family dog, and has a friendly relationship with her mom, Mel (Holly  Hunter). Unlike some of the other girls at Tracy's school, she doesn't wear revealing clothes. This makes Tracy and her friends a complete contrast to Evie and her friends, who are starting to get all of the boys' attention.

Little seeds however are being planted. Mel, who works from home as a hairdresser, appears to be a generous, caring mom but we learn she had an addiction problem in her past. Tracy writes poems, which she openly shares with her mom, that are deep and about emotional pain. You don't create art about pain unless you are feeling something inside. What was the mother-child relationship like when Mel was an addict? We further find out mom and dad are divorced. That affects children too. It all subtly begins to paint a picture. How much emphasis the viewer is supposed to give all of this, isn't quite clear yet at this point. The most alarming discovery though is that Tracy has a history of self-mutilation. Keep in mind this is all pre-Evie.

Evie on the other hand, outwardly seems to be the typical "bad girl". "Thirteen" and Hardwicke could have easily left it at that. Instead we learn a bit about Evie's home life. The make-up, the clothing, the piercings, it is a reflection of an unhealthy environment that Evie lives in. She says her mother passed away and she currently lives with a cousin, Brooke (Deborah Kara Unger). Brooke is not portrayed as "mother material". She doesn't check in on Evie's whereabouts, she doesn't keep a nice home, she day drinks beer, and allows Evie to do so as well. It's not a mother / daughter or adult / child relationship as much as it is a roommate situation.

A lot of this deals exclusively with the home but there are outside pressures as well. Hardwicke doesn't dwell on it but there is one sequence in which its significance doesn't escape us. Tracy is riding a bus and we see billboards advertising beauty products with sexy images. It creates an external ideal women and young girls must live up to and strive to achieve.

That ideal leads to another subtle touch Hardwicke gives the film. Young women first becoming aware of the male gaze. Evie relishes the attention boys give her. The beauty products and billboards are examples of a male standard of beauty. It's not a declarative theme in "Thirteen" but its there and it motivates these young girls - subconsciously or not - to behave the way they do. We see it in Evie and even in Brooke, who gets plastic surgery done. It is a life long cycle women must wrestle with. 

This speaks to one of the strengths of "Thirteen". It has an intimate, lived in knowledge about women and teenagers. It is the result of not only having a film directed by a woman but a script co-written by Hardwicke and co-star Nikki Reed. Hardwicke dated Reed's father for a time and after that relationship ended, Hardwicke and Reed remained in contact. It wouldn't be too far of a stretch to believe the both of them brought personal details to this story. 

The personal knowledge and perspective that Hardwicke and Reed bring to this story helps explain why "Thirteen" doesn't pull punches and is able to widen the scope of this dilemma beyond easy finger pointing. A lot of deliberate care was given to these characters, especially Mel. Yes, Mel is seems to be an attentive mother but where was she when her daughter started to spiral downward? She witnesses the change in behavior. She suspects her daughter may be shoplifting. She may even be aware Evie is manipulating her with stories of abuse back home but she doesn't firmly take charge of the situation. If "Thirteen" teaches us anything it is that children need guidance. They know when an adult or parent is absent. At her lowest point, Tracy directly confronts her mother asking, where were you? Mom's answer honestly, isn't a great defense but a relatable one.

It adds another layer to "Thirteen" that should prevent viewers from too quickly passing judgement on Brooke and Mel and dividing them into "good" and "bad" as well. Brooke is absent and appears to be in no position to take care of a child but at one point Mel wanted her ex-husband to take Tracy because she couldn't handle raising her alone. Yes, Brooke allows Evie to drink beer but Mel allows her son to smoke pot in the house. 

It is because of these nuanced touches many critics overlooked signs and boxed the film into an easy interpretation. In Roger Ebert's Chicago Sun-Times review, he described "Thirteen" as  "This is a frightening story of how a nice girl falls under the influence of a wild girl and barely escapes big, big, big trouble". He was also fascinated by the background story between Hardwicke and Reed. Michael Wilmington, at the Chicago Tribune, did a slightly better job capturing the essence of the film but never quite spelled it out and generalized it as a story about teenage life, writing the film is a "first rate movie about relationships of modern parents and kids, and the sometimes fragile and delusional bridges that connect their worlds." But "Thirteen" isn't just about teenagers, it's about the unique experience of young girls becoming teenagers and navigating into the world of womanhood with the weight of society and peer pressure on their shoulders. 

What may have distracted critics and viewers from seeing the broader picture was the gritty style "Thirteen" was filmed in. The film is a clash between docu-drama and MTV music video - back in the days when MTV showed music videos. It is a jittery, in-your-face style that is sometimes accentuated by rapid edits and dizzying camera techniques, such as when Hardwicke and cinematographer Elliot Davis have the camera sway back and forth to signify the instability of the characters. It would be easy enough to dismiss the film as little more than "shock value" because of this aesthetic and the film's content. A deeper reading and understanding of the film however shows us how the visuals match the subject matter.

By the end of "Thirteen" we see a major shift in the characters, causing us to flip everything we know about them. "Bad" characters become "good" and "good" characters get a smack of reality and must confront the disturbing future that may potentially await them. It is all a performance? A moment of clarity? In our hearts we want to believe it is a wake-up call, after spending so much time with these characters but the film's final image suggests a more harsh reality to me. Tracy is at a playground violently spinning on a roundabout. Her childhood has become chaotic. Her decisions today may anticipate the struggles of tomorrow, in many ways like her mother. She won't be a "bad" person but a woman who needs to take life one day at a time, fully aware she can slip into old habits at any given moment.

No praise of the film cannot mention the performances given by the cast. When "Thirteen" was released Wood was sixteen years old and Reed was fifteen. Their acting is remarkable. It's true that their age has something to do with that praise but that's because these are brave performances that asks an actress to go through a sweeping range of emotions in an extremely vulnerable and mature way that quite frankly several older actresses may not have been able to in such a convincing manner. These were star making performances. Holly Hunter does amazing work as well creating a sympathetic character despite some of her flaws. We can feel her heartache and desperation in many scenes. Hunter received the film's sole Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. If it was up to me however, all three performances would have gotten nominated. Although Wood did receive a best actress Golden Globe nomination.

Critics didn't know what to expect from Hardwicke when "Thirteen" was released. As previously mentioned, this was her directorial debut after years of working as a production designer on a range of films including "Laurel Canyon" (2002) - her last film in this role before directing - "Vanilla Sky" (2001), and the infamous "Tank Girl" (1995). Hardwicke would continue to explore themes present in "Thirteen" in her following films such as "Lords of Dogtown" (2005) and the megahit "Twilight" (2008). For me however "Thirteen" has remained her best film and was one of the most impressive modern directorial debuts I have seen. When the film was released in 2003, I placed it on my year-end best list. It has remained with me ever since.