MOVIES : Thirteen

A little different from Spidey :)
I saw this with Sharon (the irish woman) and Greg. It's written by a 13 year old (who also plays a support actress) about the usual decent into hell because of drugs of a 13 year old girl.
It is quite well done with a really excellent performance from Holly Hunter, and a pretty damn good performance from the lead girl (We'll call her tracey). The emotions and pain the family experiences as Tracey gets worse and worse are really well conveyed - a lot of time is spent making you empathise with the various members of the family and the complex relationships, and strains thereon, that exist.
My favourite acheivement of the film was the way they got you so angry with Tracey, but could fully understand that Holly still loved her and wouldn't ever let her go. The love was so strong, and is testament to Holly's acting.
Why did I not think this was great? Two small things

1. it's the same story again. Go ask alice. A story that needs to be told, but there wasn't anything fresh to differentiate this from any of the others of its ilk


2. Really important choices are glossed over, while lots of time is spent on less improtant stuff such as
   
   
   • At first the girls hate the prima donnas, but suddenly Tracey is trying to emulate them and get into their group. When and why did she make this choice?
   
   
   • A boyfriend of Holly turns up. Is this the estranged Dad? Why does Tracey hate him so? These important questions remain unclear for an unreasonable period of time.
   
   
   • Suddenly Tracey rejects the drugs, and her girlfriend, and tries to become 'good' again. Why? I saw little reason she would do this (there were little reasons, but none that I think would have swayed her)
   
   
   
   Spidey was all about examining people's choices and their consequences - really hard choices. This film was too, but didn't actually look at the decision - only the consequences.