Thirteen

List Price: $14.98 Buy For: $9.99
Usually ships in 24 hours


Add to Cart


Compare New & Used Prices From All Available Merchants:

Starring: Evan Rachel Wood
Rated: R (Restricted)
Type: DVD
Directed By: Catherine Hardwicke
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 2004-01-27
Running Time: 100 minutes
"Brace yourself" (Rolling Stone) for a raw, revealing insight into urban adolescence that's so intense and realistic, "it's possible to turn away (Interview Magazine). Anxiously trying to fit into the peer-pressure cooker environment of junior high, thirteen-year-old Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) goes to shocking lengths in order to befriend Evie (co-writer Nikki Reed), the most popular girl in school. Now the two are inseparable - and incorrigible - leaving Tracy's desperate mom (Academy Award winner Holly Hunter) powerless to rescue her from a whirlwind of drugs, sex and crime.

No. Bad. Danger, Will Robinson, danger
Catherine Hardwicke is red hot right now due to her direction of Twilight, which is a huge block buster with box office receipts that guarantee a sequel--but guess who won't be directing said sequel? It doesn't seem fair that she won't get to milk the cash cow she spawned, but perhaps it is best, as she would no doubt chaff under the restrictions imposed upon her. She is an indie director through and through, though with her uncanny knack for feeling the pulse of the youth market she will no doubt strike gold again. She discovered the vampire novels of Stephenie Meyers through her younger pals, and at a book signing she saw immediately the strong reaction and fan loyalty the books engendered. Indeed, author Stephenie Meyers had laid the groundwork herself by social networking, blogging and emailing her fans, even reviewing fan fiction based on her characters.

Two of Catherine's other films also benefited from her ability to see the world from the younger point-of-view: The Lords of Dogtown; and the film I will review here, thirteen. Dogtown was a great film about the skate scene. My favorite Hardwicke story from that is when she got so carried away directing a skateboard scene in a drained swimming pool that she fell in and had to be rushed to the hospital. When she woke up, she had a flashback, because the doctor was speaking the exact same lines of dialogue from her script, from when one of the skaters had an accident. It is that kind of reckless passion that she brings to her films.

--------------------
[first lines]
Tracy: Hit me. I'm serious; I can't feel anything, hit me! Again, do it harder! I can't feel anything, this is awesome!
===================================

thirteen tells the story of a strained relationship between a mother (Holly Hunter) and daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) as the daughter goes through a rebellious adolescent phase of shoplifting, drugs, and cutting herself with a razor blade, spurred on by her friend Evie Zamora (Nikki Reed), a popular but troubled teen who envies the relatively stable home she has.

------------
[as underage Evie tries to seduce him]
Luke: No. Bad. Danger, Will Robinson, danger.
=============================

The script was written by Nikki Reed in only six days, based on her own experience, which was closer to the daughter character than the part she played. Director Hardwicke collaborated on the script, shaping the raw material and probably projecting herself into the mother role, if you will forgive me a little amateur psychoanalysis.

---------------------
[Tracy is on the phone in a tattoo shop]
Tracy: Hey Mom, do you know what point-slope form is? No, me neither. See? That's why I need to be here... at the library.
==================================

Holly Hunter is great as the mom, trying to be her daughter's best friend, but with her own issues, and a boyfriend (Jeremy Sisto) just out of rehab it's a difficult task. Sisto was familiar from his role on the popular TV show, "Law & Order" where he plays Detective Cyrus Lupo. Here he seems like he is trying to be a father figure, but as an ex-addict, he has neither her respect nor the patience to deal with her trauma drama.

----------------
Tracy: So, Brady, how was the halfway house?
Brady: Same as the last one, Tracy.
==============================

Though her mom wants to be her best friend, what she really needs is a mom, and a dad would be nice, too. Unfortunately, her dad (D.W. Moffett) sees her so rarely that he really can't comprehend what her problem is and what she needs. Her brother, Mason (Brady Corbett) doesn't get along with her so great, either. Sometimes he is annoyed, sometimes he is horrified, and sometimes he is in awe of the fast track she is on:

--------------------
Tracy: Hey Mason, who would you say is the hottest girl in school?
Mason: Evie Zamora.
Tracy: Guess who I hung out with today.
Mason: Bull.
Tracy: Melrose Avenue. (Mason looks at her in awe) What? Like that's so hard to believe...
==================================

thirteen is a shocking and heavy movie, all the more shocking to think that lots of teens are going through this. For instance, cutting your arm with a razor blade seems to be so irrational yet it is all too common. It seems that these problems are even worse in Hollywood/Los Angeles with so many of the parents not really grown up themselves--going through the same issues themselves. Though the reality it depicts is shocking, the script, direction, and acting don't flinch. Also, though put to the test, the mother's love doesn't falter, and the film ends on a muted note of optimism.

-------------
[last lines]
Tracy: Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.
===========================

Twilight [Theatrical Release] (2008) .... Directed by Catherine Hardwicke; Nikki Reed was Rosalie Hale
The Wrestler [Theatrical Release] (2008) .... Evan Rachel Wood was Stephanie Robinson
Across the Universe (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2007) .... Evan Rachel Wood was Lucy
Cherry Crush (2007) .... Nikki Reed was Shay Bettencourt
King of California (2007) .... Evan Rachel Wood was Miranda
Running With Scissors (2006) .... Evan Rachel Wood was Natalie Finch
Mini's First Time (2006) .... Nikki Reed was Minerva 'Mini' Droggs
High School Musical (2006) (TV) .... Vanessa Hudgens(as Vanessa Anne Hudgens) was Gabriella Montez
Lords of Dogtown (2005) .... Directed by Catherine Hardwicke; Nikki Reed was Kathy Alva
The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) .... Jeremy Sisto was Chester
S1m0ne (2002) .... Evan Rachel Wood was Lainey Christian Taransky
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) .... Holly Hunter was Penny
Practical Magic (1998) .... Evan Rachel Wood was Kylie Owens
Crash (1996) .... Holly Hunter was Helen Remington [NOT the 2004 Oscar winner, the one with James Spader]
Stealing Beauty (1996) .... D.W. Moffett was Richard
The Firm (1993) .... Holly Hunter was Tammy Hemphill
The Piano (1993) .... Holly Hunter was Ada McGrath
Broadcast News (1987) .... Holly Hunter was Jane Craig

------------
Tracy: Mothers, lock up your sons!
=============================

Great movie!!
This is one of my favorite movies EVER... and that is quite a compliment. It really gives a great look into what life is like for 13 year olds growing up in the world today. Not much else needs to be said... the other reviews say it all. I highly recommend this movie.

Oh to be young again?
I feel a need for a disclaimer here. This is a positive review, I thought Thirteen was a very good film. Okay disclaimer covered.
Imagine two hours of sitting in a pit of eels after drinking eighteen cups of coffee. That's about as uncomfortable as the two hours I spent watching Thirteen. It is a testament to the film that the material rings so true as to elicit such feelings. The phrase teenage angst has never been so woefully insufficient as in this instance. The story of Tracy and her family is so visceral and genuine that one is instantly transformed back to early post puberty and the horribly uncomfortable issues that were part and parcel of the experience. We follow Tracy as she seeks popularity through her relationship with the most popular girl in class, Evie. In this post-modern LA junior high school, popularity is as perilous as typhoid, with overt sexual availability and attenuated childhood creating beings of mature facade but illusory foundation. Inevitably Tracy and her post-modern family ferociously spiral into a decent tempered only by it's brevity. As an adult I look at the film now as both man and child and am horrified from both views. The issues of needing to belong and wanting admiration are represented as truly as film has ever managed. The issues of reckless sexuality and self destruction allow me even as one without children to know the deep fear of having your child self immolate. There are very few good feelings within this movie but oddly you do feel better for going through it. I guess that is really the ultimate and fitting compliment for the filmmakers that they have managed to take the audience through the emotions that are the beginning of the teenage years. Few films I know have had this much emotional impact. I'm not sure I'm ready for many more.

This is no joke...
I've seen "Kids", Bully and all the other teens gone bad movies...Thirteen is the one that really got me! It broke my heart, and scared the hell out of me! I have a daughter (17) and this is real! It can happen if you allow it too or if your luck is bad enough for some good ole' fashion Karma to catch up 2 you. Katherine Hardwick(Lords Of Dogtown)and Nukki Reed wrote this script in a week...a semi-autobiographical telling of Reed's real life. There's drugs, sex, cutting, and alcohol running freely in Evies(Redd) world and Tracy( Woods) sees it and wants in...at what cost though? Holly Hunter sells the stressed out on the edge herself Mommy....equipped with an unsuccessful home buisness, smoking and alkie abuse herself as well as letting men abuse her too...Physiologically she sells Tracy to Evie and is a sucker for their tricks until it goes too far and Hunter's character puts her foot down and loves her daughter back home...she has to put space between Evie and Tracy, which finally happens but before you see Tracy and Evie use drugs, alcohol, sex and go thru a cutting phase that's very real...Nikki Reed is an amazing talent( recognized form Lords of Dogtown and Cherry Crush) wow!!! This girl has it in a sexy way...young but extremely sexy in her roles...she could have redone lolita and knocked it out of the park. This is a real look into the world of teen girls gone to the other side...be careful not all come back home...this is a movie for every dad and mom to watch & breathe in...it can happen to you too! the language used and the description of sex, cutting, drugs, breaking the law(theft)is truly eyeopening.

Excellent cinematography. Wood's performance is spot on.
Special features could have been more extensive, but I enjoyed the audio commentary with director and actors. Evan Rachel Wood does a fantastic portrayal of Tracy. The cinematography is beautiful and fitting to the story.