Film Reviews

Thirteen

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Brady Corbet
• Details: US / 95 mins / (18).

A chilling portrait of adolescence gone askew, 'Thirteen' charts the emotional turmoil that Tracy (Wood), young teenage girl (Wood) puts herself and her family through after she falls in with the wrong crowd. That crowd is led by Evie (Nikki Reed), a sassy fellow youngster whose behaviour can charitably be described as manipulative. Egged on by her new best friend, Tracy puts her boho-lite mother (Holly Hunter) and her older brother Mason (Corbet) through the wringer.
Co-written by its young star, 'Thirteen' appears to be an accurate depiction of the pressure of uniformity and acceptance which blights many in the early stages of adolescence. Casting off her old friends and her respectful relationship towards her family with an all too realistic vigour, Rachel is a star in the making, apparently living her own neurosis and insecurities on screen. Her scenes with Hunter crackle with intensity and even if the dramatic weight of the material falls somewhat short before the all-too-neat finale, 'Thirteen' is worth investigating.

Review by Garreth Murphy