Thirteen

guitarchick · Post by **guitarchick** » Sep 30th 2003, 1:55 pm

Has anyone seen this movie? it's not the most commercial movie so I'm not sure if it's playing everywhere but it's worth checking out if you have a chance. It's a teenage angst movie... I loved the acting and the style in which it was filmed. It's interesting to watch because it addresses a lot of things that MSCL does.

However I think there are some major differences between Angela and Tracy (the character in the movie). Although Angela does get angsty and slightly rebellious, I don't think it's done out of a need to be "cool". It seems like Tracy doesn't know where to stop. She just sinks lower and lower and she would probably have killed herself if nobody had intervened. I think this is a little unrealistic... I mean, teenagers make mistakes and experiment but they are not complete idiots! I've never heard of a teenager who started off wearing pink clothes and butterfly clips then got a tongue ring, bought some black clothes and ended up sniffing cocain 2 months later... it seems a little far-fetched...

What do you guys think?

Emilie

fnordboy · Post by **fnordboy** » Sep 30th 2003, 6:18 pm

I have been interested in this movie, I read an article about it the other day. It does seem to take the idea and go a little too far to the extreme with it but it has caught my interest.

I remember a few people back in my younger days who would leave for summer vacation a normal kid and you would see them the next school year completely different with a new style and new "beliefs" etc.

There are a few of those people out there. Thankfully not many

Nik · Post by **Nik** » Sep 30th 2003, 7:08 pm

This is one I have been planning to see. It has been getting great reviews. I'm not sure yet how far fetched it will come across, but Nikki Reed, one of the actresses, actually co-wrote the screenplay with Catherine Hardwicke when she was 13 (she's 15 now). It is supposedly based on her actual 13th year. Don't know how true to life they kept it, but it definitely seems interesting.

Post by **Sascha** » Oct 1st 2003, 6:19 am

Yeah, this is on my "to-see-list" too. Evan Rachel Wood is starring in the movie and she did an amazing job on "Once & Again" (as Jessie) - it kinda reminded my of the performance of Claire Danes in MSCL.

richard · Post by **richard** » Jan 16th 2004, 8:40 pm

I saw this film at the weekend and was not very impressed.

NOTE - THERE MAY BE SPOILERS AHEAD, BUT I THINK THIS IS ALL COMMON KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE FILM...

I hate the shaky camera work and I felt that whole film seemed like a good 13 year old girl's idea of what a really bad 13 year old girl would be like.

There was no real explanation of why Tracy went bad, she just did. And she went straight from bad to good - no middle ground.

She showed absolutely no sign of any nerves about anything - she just took the drugs, and off she went - the whole point of a film like this should be to examine why she did it, but instead you just got a gratutitous showing of people being bad.

I think the film would have worked a lot better if instead of making her quite so awful - I mean making Evie a drug dealer stretched the point a bit - they had just stuck to a much simpler set-up, sticking to only a few themes.

I also hated the whole 'let's show the needle and the knife going in' bits - they resembled some kind of cheap horror film and just made the audience close their eyes - a very cheap way of creating impact I felt. And as for the ears??? It looked like the Adams Family..

On the whole I felt it was trying to be MSCL, but failed miserably, there was none of the realism or depth of characters.

Just as a few points of why I think they ripped MSCL off anyways:

1) Making the 'bad girl's' mother a waitress in a bar who goes out and leaves her daughter with the line 'only one beer - you have school work.

2) The whole bad girl/good girl set-up

3) The scene in the bathroom between Tracy and evie's old ex-friend

4) The whole poem bit.

5) The scene where mother and daughter lie on the bed together

6) The old good girl's best friend who she then ignores (and is her neighbour)..

7) The distant father bit.

Well, the whole film really..

I know that's a bit harsh but I was expecting something great and was bitterly disapointed..

Jody Barsch* · Post by Jody Barsch* » Jan 17th 2004, 12:44 am

richard wrote: Just as a few points of why I think they ripped MSCL off anyways:

1) Making the 'bad girl's' mother a waitress in a bar who goes out and leaves her daughter with the line 'only one beer - you have school work.

2) The whole bad girl/good girl set-up

3) The scene in the bathroom between Tracy and evie's old ex-friend

4) The whole poem bit.

5) The scene where mother and daughter lie on the bed together

6) The old good girl's best friend who she then ignores (and is her neighbour)..

7) The distant father bit.

Well, the whole film really..

I know that's a bit harsh but I was expecting something great and was bitterly disapointed..

I have yet to see the film, although I would still like to, but I seriously doubt that they ripped those scenes from MSCL. I doubt these girls had ever even heard of MSCL. Anyway, everything you mentioned sounds pretty standard and not exceptional to MSCL. I love the show, but even it wasn't entirely original.

pistolpeg · Post by **pistolpeg** » Feb 26th 2004, 5:13 pm

I saw this recently and I was impressed. I think they did a great job considering the money and time they had. I'd like to counter a couple of points I've read

1. The shaky camera work - I thought it worked. They filmed all but three scenes with a hand held, due to budget, etc. Also, I think it did give you a feel as to how out of control Tracey's life was.

2. I don't think it is really that unrealistic. There are many kids of that age living that kind of life ... that is the scarey part.

3. While Tracey's downslide was rather rapid, I don't think that is that unrealistic either. Also, it is not like she was a happy-go-lucky girl before she started hanging out with Evie. She may have been wearing pink, but she was also cutting.

The acting in this movie was superb!!!!

fnordboy · Post by **fnordboy** » Feb 26th 2004, 6:41 pm

pistolpeg wrote:I saw this recently and I was impressed. I think they did a great job considering the money and time they had. I'd like to counter a couple of points I've read

1. The shaky camera work - I thought it worked. They filmed all but three scenes with a hand held, due to budget, etc. Also, I think it did give you a feel as to how out of control Tracey's life was.

2. I don't think it is really that unrealistic. There are many kids of that age living that kind of life ... that is the scarey part.

3. While Tracey's downslide was rather rapid, I don't think that is that unrealistic either. Also, it is not like she was a happy-go-lucky girl before she started hanging out with Evie. She may have been wearing pink, but she was also cutting.

The acting in this movie was superb!!!!

I picked the DVD of this up when it was released. I was very curious about this film and had some high hopes for it. Unfortunately, I didn't really like it all that much.

As a whole I thought it was way too "after school special" for me, right down to the cheesy camerawork. It is not so much the hand held that I have the problem with, but more the cuts inbetween each seen. It was too almost Real World-y cheese filmmaking.

Of course it also gets the old

for the cutting. I am so sick of that.

I will agree with PistolPeg that is was a bit too rapid of a descent, but I attribute that to fitting it into the movie's length more than anything else. And there are many kids that age doing those things and worse. I know, I was one of them and that was 14, almost 15 years ago. I was doing worse stuff than they were in this movie.

I did like that they didn't make the family cookie-cutter and perfect. Each member of the family has their own set of problems. Though, they might have been a bit too heavy handed with Holly Hunters character, but I guess YMMV.

Emeralduk · Post by **Emeralduk** » Apr 18th 2004, 5:16 pm

i saw thirteen for the first time about a month ago, when it was released on dvd, and i too was really impressed with it, feeling that it was very realistic and touching in parts. it was like a teen movie, but a much more dramatic one, that shocked u, with the thought that the stuff in the movie (sex, drugs etc) could actually be happening to kids in real life, at such an early age.

also, 'richard' i disagree with some of the so-called (acuse the pun) mscl rip-off points claimed - like with evie's cousin/mother figure, she was an actress, not a waitress i dont think. and tracy's mum and dad had divorced, so i don't think there's a comparison about a distant father. and anway, this whole movie is about the major troubles of teens (self-mutilation, drugs, sex), and mscl doesnt tackle issues as bad as those in this film, or at least to the level that this film did. thirteen is much rawer and dirty, so i dont think the creators would need to go to a happy-family show such as mscl to get inspiration.

*~Emerald~*

alicia · Post by **alicia** » Jun 3rd 2004, 6:03 am

hey all. i've not been on here for ages, but i wanted to get updated on the whole dvd saga and then started reading the forums. I must say the topics are as good as ever.
anyway... my point..... i actually wasnt sure on Thirteen when i first saw it but i think one of the reasons for that was because id seen Lost in Translation minutes before it, which is my favourite film ever. Loooking back i think i actually liked it. I'm going to rent it out this week to decide how much i actually liked it. Important decision u know lol.
My main criticism of Thirteen when i saw it was i thought it was too similar to Bully and Kids but with not as strong or good a storyline. obviously thats just my opinion and taste, but that is one reason i dont hold it in very high regard.
maybe i will change my mind after watching it again.

Angela_Catalano · Post by **Angela_Catalano** » Aug 29th 2004, 11:04 pm

Thirteen is a really good movie. Its very realistic. It kind of makes me think of how My so called life is just as realistic. This movie is definitly a movie everyone should see if they like MY so called life!

crimson-glow · Post by **crimson-glow** » Apr 28th 2005, 2:00 am

This movie is actually really good. The only problem I had with it was that it clumped every problem that a teen could have into one girl. Not every girl is going to change so quickly to the point where she is cutting, drinking, doing drugs, stealing, having sex, having family problems all at once. It was overwelming to watch this one girl be destroyed. I know it can happen, but most of these problems are spread out, not everything is going to change so suddenly in like 1 month where she becomes so completely opposite and almost dying.

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