Thirteen (2003)

***WARNING:THIS MIGHT BE A SPOILER*** Look, I'm no Ebert or Ropert, but I do want to say that I though this movie was amazing. I watched it when I was thirteen; I was channel-surfing and found this movie, and, it being entitled "Thirteen", I thought it would be interesting. I'm so glad that I watched this movie two years ago because I honestly believe that it showed me the reality of drugs and sex and that entire lifestyle (look, I'm not stupid. I know it's glamorized for Hollywood, but it's as real as movies get, okay). I honestly think that "Thirteen" is a very well filmed movie; one thing I noticed was that the movie began in full color, correct? but as her life got darker and darker, so did the movie. By the end, it was nearly in black and white, but when Tracy woke up after her mom found out about her cutting, it was back to color. The language used, the actions of the people, everything...just so realistic, or, as I said before, as real as Hollywood would let it get. Basically, I loved "Thirteen" and recommend it to any teenager who isn't impressionable enough to want to do drugs and have sex because "Evie seems so cool". (There's a post by a girl who tried that. What a mad, mad world we live in.) Thanks, Bianca

Fmovies: Wow, This movie...

I honestly thought it was amazing. Not for just the acting (which was very good also) but the whole storyline.

Some people look at what these girl are doing and don't think its happening...but really it is...and i know this because i see it everyday right in front of my eyes...

I have friends who are thirteen who have smoked pot and cigarettes, Self-mutilated(cutting), drank many different kinds of liquor, have hit all 4 bases with guys...and there only 13...and my old best friend has been sucked into this vortex of rebellion and hatred and just dropped everything....to make a long story short this movie taught me the bad results of all these things...

My friends dropped me, her family, her religion and her whole life because someone else told her to....and watching this movie was a great inspiration not to do anything like this....

Go out and rent this movie immediately...its amazing the acting, the drama, the everything, right down to the way they film it.....

10 stars

Thirteen is a fresh look at what children go through today. It is honest and terrifying, for some they can relate to the pain, frustration, and confusion that the main character goes through but for others it can serve as an eye-opening view of what that life is like. For those who think this is like any other teen-on-drugs movie I'd have to say they are completely wrong. True the movie does show a girl experimenting with drugs and sex but it also taps into the emotional and psychological problems that drive kids today to do so. The honesty of the main characters cutting problems is absolutely both terrifying and breath taking. I think thirteen was one of the most truthful and beautiful movies I have seen in a long time.

Thirteen fmovies. Tracy is a normal thirteen-year-old girl, dressed in bright pastels, bedroom full of soft toys and with giggly thoughts of boys. Starting school in the new term she finds everyone in awe of Evie Zamora and her friends – all of who have suddenly turned into sexy young ladies over the summer. With her goofy kid look, Evie blanks Tracy until she impresses her by stealing a purse to go shopping. As Evie gets in with Tracy's mum Mel, she also takes Evie into her own world of rebellion involving stealing, drink, disobedience, drugs and sex. Mel struggles to hold on to the small parts of her daughter that she still recognises.

At many points in our lives we all change and perhaps the first time it happens is the hardest to deal with. The stage where everyone seems to go from just being kids to suddenly being a peer group is a major one and this film, for all its extremes, does justice to the difficulties (for everyone) of the period in a story that is well written, cleverly directed and really well acted by the whole cast. The plot builds well on minor changes to Tracy and makes it totally clear where the pressure is coming from and how it affects her; in this regard the script is spot on and is totally convincing. When it goes to extremes it does show signs of stretching and almost breaking but it never does – while it is extreme it is still convincing and only two or three moments seem like they are going too far. Certainly I can't imagine many parents will be able to watch it without worrying about how they and theirs will handle the change when it comes.

While the writing is great, there does come a point where it needs to end and, while unconvincing, the film does at least draw to an end on an ambiguous ending and only the final shot of a 'isn't life hard' scream from Tracy struck a duff note and was too clumsy. As co-writer, Reed shows a real awareness of the world around her and she deserves the praise she got for that role but also her performance as Evie is praise worthy, but perhaps not to the extent that Wood's is. Wood takes us from a child to womanhood and never hits a duff note in her portrayal of a girl just trying to fit in.

She is excellent and her dynamic with Hunter is a perfect fit and also convincing; in my mind she is better than Reed because Wood had a more complex character to develop – Wood had to change her character, Reed played a character who was already there. Hunter deals with some minor clutter in her character but generally she is as good as her teenage cos-stars. Minor support roles for people like Sisto, Unger and Clarke all add to the film but really the film belongs to the lead trio. Director Hardwicke directs with style and with an eye for the clever shot – at times using fast camera motions while in one key scene just letting the camera frame the front room like it was a stage. She also uses a clever touch in tainting the film stock a washed out colour when Tracy's bubble finally bursts – we immediately go from bright colours to washed out blue and, even with the conclusion we only return to dark browns and not the highs of the main story.

Overall this is a very good film that is hard to watch if you have pre-teen kids. It has extremes in there and it won't apply to every teenager out there but to just call it unrealistic is to ignore the reality of peer pressure and the sexualisation of youth generally. The script is convincing, frightening and moving and is greatly helped by three great performances from Reed, Wood and Hunter.

weeeelll I thought "thirteen" was just okay. The main reason I found it just okay, was that it just wasn't that interesting and believable to me. Before you start bashing me for the 'believable' comment, I'd like to address something. Unlike many detractors of 'thirteen', I won't say the things portrayed in the movie dont happen. They do. However, what I found INCREDIBLY unbelievable was how Tracy transformed into a bad ass, selfish, mean bitch instantly immediately after meeting Evie. She didn't evolve into a badass, selfish, mean bitch. She immediately became one in the scene right after meeting Evie. One scene she was the sweet, smart 'nerdy' girl, the VERY NEXT SCENE she was the selfish angry bitch. The transformation just wasn't shown. Also, I felt the bulk of the movie was trying to shock us by constantly one-upping the stakes and shocking us. The two things that show the movie's true intentions of shocking us is (1)the movie's opening scene which has absolutely NO reason to open the movie and (2) the provocative poster showing the girls' tongue rings. However, I thought it was a promising performance by Evan Rachel Wood. While it is impressive that she co-wrote a screenplay at such a young age, Nikki Reed's performance is nothing special. On the other hand, Holly Hunter gives perhaps her best performance ever as Tracey's mother. And I thought the final few minutes were very true and heartfelt- it almost made me think I liked the entire movie. I know no-one will agree with me, because it seems like everyone either LOVES the movie or HATES it, but I thought 'thirteen' was a fair movie with a few very good aspects.

I've been reading through the comments on here, and I'm wondering if I watched the same movie as everyone else. I was honestly blown away by this film, and agree with every praise that the critics have given it.

I think it's silly to say that Tracy was one-dimensional at all. She clearly had so much built-up frustration towards her mother, and her mother's boyfriend. Evan Rachel Wood did a perfect job of conveying the slow inner-destruction of Tracy.

It's hard to believe that Nikki Reed had no experience before this film. She absolutely nailed the manipulative attitude of Evie, while also making the viewer like her.

Holly Hunter's absolutely blew me away. Aside from Charlize Theron in Monster, and Felicity Huffmann in Transamerica, I can't think of a better performance than Hunter's. You could actually see the terror and panic in her face as she watched her daughter slowly slip deeper and deeper into trouble.

The final scene in the movie with Wood and Hunter is one of the most powerful scenes I've ever seen. I definitely recommend this movie to anyone.