Thirteen (2002)

Despite the many difficult things shown, the shock factor actually works in this movie because it all seems so horribly real. There's not a single part of this movie that couldn't be happening somewhere in this country right now, and that's what makes "Thirteen" so terrifying.

Aiding the film in its realistic approach is the camerawork by first-time director Catherine Hardwicke. She shot the movie with a digital camera, and it often has the look and feel of a documentary. She also splashes the film with vibrant colors at points to add to the sense of decadence in the girls' care-free, dangerous lifestyles. Later, near the end, Hardwicke also seems to drain almost all color out of the scenes in order to display the cold reality of life when all the drugs and sex and partying lead to their natural conclusions.

The film doesn't offer any cookie-cutter solutions on how to deal with wild teens, nor does it offer us a smiley-faced ending where it all works out and everyone winds up happy. Instead, in its final minutes, it offers only wrenching emotional truth and a quiet, subtle message of hope.

Through all of this, the entire ensemble does nothing but impress. The main star of the movie, and the one who undergoes the most changes, is Evan Rachel Wood ("Once and Again"), who plays Tracy as if this were the story of her own life. Amazing in every capacity, she proves herself a worthy successor to our current generation of A-list actresses. As well, Nikki Reed, who plays Evie (and co-wrote the film with Hardwicke), astonishes in her first performance. She also has a bright future. Meanwhile, it's a reliable veteran, Holly Hunter, who, as Tracy's mom, becomes the "Thirteen"'s shaky moral center, a recovering alcoholic with more heart than brain, so clueless as to what's going on but undeterred in her determination to keep her only daughter safe no matter what. It's a tough role, and Hunter nails it. The final moments involve an emotionally intense scene between Hunter and Wood, and watching it, you realize that there are few-maybe none-who could have handled it better.

"Thirteen" is an amazing film, which despite many uncomfortable moments, manages to stand out as one of the few great movies of the year. However, be forewarned: it is not for the faint of heart, nor is it a movie you would see to be entertained in the traditional sense. Still, whatever opinion you walk out of "Thirteen" with, you have to admit at least one thing: it stays with you, like the bitter chill on your bones during the cruelest winter.

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A debut film from Catherine Hardwicke, Thirteen is a terrifying film about a little girl whose life goes right off the rails. Co-written by then 13-year-old Nikki Reed, who also co-stars in the movie, Thirteen features Evan Rachel Wood as Tracy, a nice kid in seventh grade, who wants to be popular. The movie begins with two girls engaged in a grotesque game of face-slapping and then goes back in time a few months. Here is an entirely innocent Tracy tossing out her stuffed animals -- a bit reluctantly -- while her mom looks on. Holly Hunter plays mom; she's a single mother and a hairdresser whose clients come to the house. Mom has her issues, but works hard to keep everything together.

At school, Tracy can only look with envy at a trio of popular girls led by the beautiful, well-dressed, grown-up Evie (Reed). Soon, Evie and Tracy bond over a little shoplifting, and in a matter of weeks, Tracy's life has changed completely. She becomes best friends with Evie and immediately joins the likes of the In-Crowd. Everything spirals straight downhill from there...

Evie is dangerous. She cons everyone who crosses her path, and before long she's actually living at Tracy's house and messing up the whole family. (On her side, Evie has for family only a narcissistic aunt, played with gusto by Deborah Kara Unger.)

The descent into teen hell in Thirteen is a touch too quick to fully make sense, but the characters are so perfectly drawn and the performances so raw and so brilliant that the film manages to have an amazing impact.

For a lot of reasons, Thirteen should be required viewing. The director, Catherine Hardwicke, has shown Thirteen at schools, teen centres, juvenile halls and the like; parents who don't shock easily should take their teenaged children to see this movie. Every parent's nightmare about how girls go wrong is packed into this movie and onto Hunter's frazzled face as she watches her daughter deteriorate. The whole thing would stink of phony moralizing if Catherine Hardwicke, who won the directing prize at Sundance 2003, didn't pack it with such raw vitality. Reed is strikingly good as Evie. She should be: She was thirteen when she wrote the semi-autobiographical script with Hardwicke, who used to date Reed's divorced dad. But the revelation is Wood, 15, formerly of TV's Once and Again, who makes Tracy's transformation harrowing and haunting. She's a live wire. Brace yourself for Thirteen -- it'll cause a commotion.

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