Thirteen

So what is this one about?
Netflix says, "Thirteen-year-old Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) is a good girl. She's smart, gets along with her mother (Holly Hunter) and is never any trouble. But then she befriends Evie (played by Nikki Reed, who co-wrote the movie), a gorgeous and popular classmate who teaches Tracy to let loose and introduces her to the beguiling world of sex, alcohol, drugs and self-mutilation -- much to the horror of Tracy's friends, relatives and, most of all, her mother."
I suppose really its about growing up, and what kids do to fit in.

And how much did I pay to watch?
Nothing. Not only am I a Netflix member, but my brother also works at Blockbuster (go visit him in Vienna...he'll hate it). He gets 5 movies free per week, so he got this one for me.

And what did I think?
I saw this one when it came out in the theater in 2003. I guess I wasn't really smart enough to process it, or maybe it just didn't really make that much of an impact. But Lifetime was advertising it, and I wanted to watch it again. I listened to the directors commentary and she points out something that you don't really notice as the audience, but it impacts you anyway. So, Tracy is a normal kid, I mean, as normal as an awkward 13 year old can be. And when the movie starts the color saturation is normal. Sunny outside, natural lighting inside, etc. But as Tracy becomes more and more destructive the color saturation begins to get sort of wonky, for lack of a better word. So the scene where she is on the street, looking for Evie (who by the way if off giving a bj to Tracy's boy) with the street kid who is dirty and drinking some sort of super strong alcohol (which tracy is drinking too) the color saturation is really green and sickly. Tracy is stumbling around because of the booze she took from the kid, and when the kid says, "wanna suck my cock baby" and she stumbles around sickly, the color saturation matches the downward spiral Tracy is in. Towards the end of the movie Tracy--who up to this point has really been beautiful with her makeup nicely done and such--goes into the bathroom and looks in the mirror. The color now is entirely desaturated and tracy looks sort of undead. She reapplys her makeup but its hard to add any color to her washed out self. Its really quite an amazing technique.

Its pretty shocking, the movie, but you really have to keep reminding yourself that these girls are only supposed to be 13. One part in the movie Tracy's counselor tells her that she will be held back in the seventh grade, and its shocking for the audience, because what we've all see doesn't match up with what we think a thirteen year old would be like.

Additionally, Evan Rachel Wood....man oh man. She is not only gorgeous but a super talented actress in this one. I try not to like her too much, but its hard, because she's totally awesome. Too bad she's like a total freak now...oh yeah, she's also dating Marilyn Manson. I am not saying they are causal, but it does seem like she is trying to be Dita vonTeese.

So what is the rating? (out of 10)
8.5-9. Its a good movie, I will not debate that. I had originally written the 8.5 score, but as I was typing and thinking through the color saturation/plot maturation coinciding I decided it needed to be higher. The commentary is quite interesting, obviously I got a lot out of it.