Kerry the Goodie Goodie
Looking back at my early teen years, I can say the worst thing that I ever did was break a window and try to have it fixed before my parents found out. And sure, I had the occasional drink at Christmas time because my parents were cool like that.

I was anything but the Thirteen year olds portrayed in the indie film, Thirteen. The movie, takes us into the mind of a seventh grader in Los Angeles who wants more than anything to befriend the hottest girl in school.

Through a little manipulation, a shopping trip turns into a most unhealthy relationship filled with stealing, drug abuse, body mutilation, and blow jobs.

Tracy of the Dysfuncional Family
Our main character, Tracy, comes from a bit of a dysfunctional family. Her parents are divorced, and her mother is a recovering alcoholic who scrapes out a modest living as a hairdresser out of her home. Played by Holly Hunter, Tracy's mom Mel is one of those cool moms. She wears little tank tops and suggests that her daughter get blonde highlights. We can tell throughout the movie that even though Mel has had her own problems, she loves her children dearly and tries her best to be a good mother. Though her relationship with an ex-coke head is the first cause of tension between mother and daughter.

Tracy, dealing with her family life, decides to make herself a part of the popular crowd by befriending Evie, the ultimate bad girl.

Movie of the Jolting Kind
The movie is a jolting one. It's shot with digital handheld cameras and it looks even more MTV than MTV. The cuts are sharp, angled, and sometimes distorted. It helps give the movie the sense that it's spiraling out of control, much like Tracy.

Thirteen takes a lot of of the viewer. The first scene is one where the two girls are sitting on Tracy's bed huffing from an aeresol can. The girls go numb and begin slapping each other to the point of bleeding. From there, we bounce back four months to where it all began.

We are forced into watching both girls abuse their bodies and their minds. Tracy is a typical Thirteen year old with fits of anger and attitude toward her mother, but I'd guess most typical Thirteen year olds are not "jacking" hundreds of dollars or cutting themselves as a way to escape.

Girls with the Strangest of Bonds
The girls wind up with the strangest of bonds -- they become like sisters in some ways, lovers in others, and enemies in still others. Evie attaches herself to Tracy's family and to Mel in particular and we get the sense that Evie is just using Tracy to become a part of a family more stable than hers. She's manipulative and a liar. Tracy becomes angry and agressive. It's a team that would give even the toughest criminals a run for their money with a combine age of 26.

Through the movie, it was hard for me to believe these girls were Thirteen. I could more believe the behavior if they were in high school. I for one can not picture my Thirteen year old self getting drunk and giving a blow job. I thought a game of spin the bottle was risque.

But suspending my own reality, the movie was hard hitting, a powerful story, and really well produced on a small budget. Holly Hunter was amazing, as were both the girls, Evan Rachel Wood, and co-writer Nikki Reed.

Thirteen depicts adolesence at it's worst. And it makes me happy that in seventh grade I was just content with wearing baggy pants and collecting baseball cards.