Thirteen (2003)

A thirteen-year-old girl's relationship with her mother is put to the test as she discovers drugs, sex, and petty crime in the company of her cool but troubled best friend.

Director:

Catherine Hardwicke

Writers:

Catherine Hardwicke, Nikki Reed

Stars:

Evan Rachel Wood, Holly Hunter, Nikki Reed

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 14 wins & 48 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nikki Reed	...	Evie Zamora
Evan Rachel Wood	...	Tracy Freeland
Vanessa Hudgens	...	Noel (as Vanessa Anne Hudgens)
Holly Hunter	...	Melanie Freeland
Brady Corbet	...	Mason Freeland
Ulysses Estrada	...	Rafa
Sarah Blakley-Cartwright	...	Medina (as Sarah Blakely-Cartwright)
Jenicka Carey	...	Astrid
Sarah Clarke	...	Birdie
Jasmine Di Angelo	...	Kayla
Tessa Ludwick	...	Yumi
Kip Pardue	...	Luke
Cece Tsou	...	Businesswoman
Jeremy Sisto	...	Brady
Jamison Yang	...	Science Teacher

Storyline

At the edge of adolescence, Tracy is a smart straight-A student--if not a little naive (it seems...she smokes and she cuts to alleviate the emotional pain she suffers from having a broken home and hating her mom's boyfriend, Brady.) When she befriends Evie, the most popular and beautiful girl in school, Evie leads Tracy down a path of sex, drugs and petty crime (like stealing money from purses and from stores). As Tracy transforms herself and her identity, her world becomes a boiling, emotional cauldron fueled by new tensions between her and her mother--as well as, teachers and old friends.

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Plot Keywords:

oral sex | female frontal nudity | female nudity | lesbian kiss | title written by female | 

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Taglines:

They're not little girls anymore

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for drug use, self destructive violence, language and sexuality - all involving young teens

Did You Know?

Trivia

Vanessa Hudgens' film debut.

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Goofs

During the intervention scene at the end of the film Tracy runs into the kitchen, and a calendar is visible, showing the date as October 2003. The scene where Tracy and Evie hit each other was said to be four months after the first day of school, which means it happened in late December or early January, and their injuries aren't healed when the intervention takes place, so the two events must have occurred close together. That's also far too early for a student to be told she will fail a grade no matter what she does, which happens immediately before the intervention scene.

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Quotes

[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 so awesome!

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Crazy Credits

Art department assistant & "chicken trick" inventor -- Alden Wallace

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Connections

Featured in Showbiz Kids (2020)

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Soundtracks

Killer Inside Me
(Meat Beat Manifestation Mix)
Written by MC 900 Ft. Jesus (as Mark Griffin)
Performed by MC 900 Ft. Jesus
Courtesy of Nettwerk Productions

User Reviews

Thirteen...out of a hundred

Ho-hum. I guess this movie is lauded because it was co-written by an actual 13 year old, based on her life, in 6 days. Great - except she says she had little to do with the subsequent rewrites.

The movie was produced as an "independent" by a first-time director, so not much money was available, and it was hurriedly shot in less than 30 days. This means that there were seldom more than one or two takes per scene, tending not to produce the best result.

I found both lead girls fairly convincing as 15-year olds, but much less so as the 13 year olds they portrayed. They and their friends just seemed too old.

As someone else astutely posted, the movie "Christiane F." is a much better look at problems of underaged girls. However, it is in German with English subtitles, or in poorly dubbed English. I suggest the book (if you can find it) which was much better (aren't they all?) and had more detail. After "Christiane F.", "Thirteen" seems negligible.

I give it 2/10 only for the effort, not the result.

Details

Official Sites:

official site

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English Spanish Portuguese

Release Date:

19 September 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Thirteen

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$116,260, 24 August 2003

Gross USA:

$4,601,043

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$10,128,960

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Michael London Productions, Working Title Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1