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Fri 7 Jan, 2005 01:08 pm
i just went on the "What's cool" page and saw that Thirteen has been pretty well received. I saw it the other day and found it pathetically average. Holly Hunter could pull that performance out of her arse on a Sunday morning, the script rolled along like a high-school drama project and the inability to raise any sort of empathy was downright offensive. Who'd have thought that thirteen year old girls take drugs and kiss each other? as the film lurched from theme to theme without any thought for the viewer's intelligence, i found it's inadequacy to show any level of subtlety very questionable. i thought that larry clark was a fairly average film-maker with an eye for realism - comparations between this and Kids make a good film look utterly sublime, and his somewhat heavy handed approach to the more sensitive issues within the film now look as if they've been teased slowly out of a delightfully subtle script. utter rubbish. i wouldn't watch it again if you paid me.
I happen to disagree, I really liked that movie, being a woman, I can relate to her character when I was younger (somewhat) and I know how she felt (somewhat)
Matt, I have seen the film and consider it inoffensively average. Your heading says it is the worst film seen in a couple of years, but your text says it is pathetically average. Have you been so fortunate as to have seen no films pathetically below average in a couple of years?
It was an ok movie. I wouldn't say run out and buy that DVD so you can watch it again but it was decent. I think it was a little overdramatized sometimes but...what teenage girl isn't over dramatizing something?
This movei got a lot of good reviews from the critics. i was disappointed by it, too.
Welcome to A2K, matt vwf, but your post is confusing -- I agree, it can't be just "pathetically average" and "utter rubbish" at the same time. It's one thing if you're just making a statement to get it off your chest and another if you're trying to convince anyone the movie is bad. Most independent films are not aimed at a wide audience and I think this one was aimed at those who have experienced teenage daughters or who have been teenage daughters. It didn't bore some major critics but Andrew Sarris found it too pretentious. Looks like you should find some critics you usually agree with and follow their lead when picking out movies. Otherwise you're headed towards a life of watching pathetically average movies because that's the bulk of the Hollywood output.
So what movies of the past few years did impress you?
I found the movie rather tough to sit through really, for it's lack of subtelty. I was dissapointed with the ending, which did smack of too much pretension, but overall, I found it a powerful film. I wouldn't watch it again, but I'm not sorry I saw it.
That's a negative reaction that I can understand -- sometimes filmmakers will get up to the line and push a morality theme too far. It can easily be too much explanation (pretentiously disguised as revelation) and/or sentiment in wrapping up the film. Same thing happened to Spielberg with the ending of "AI."
(And he's no young, unseasoned filmmaker!)
I liked AI when it ended....the first time.
Okaaayy...
I like escargot...the first time.
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