Thirteen (2003)
★★★ — Thirteen (2003)
Catherine Hardwicke had worked for years as a production designer (on films like Three Kings and Vanilla Sky) before making her directorial debut here, at 48, with a script she co-wrote with Nikki Reed, who was thirteen herself when she wrote it and who also plays Evie in the film. Reed drew on her own experiences, which gives the project an uncomfortable, semi-autobiographical authenticity that a more polished Hollywood production would likely have smoothed away. Shot for around two million dollars with a handheld, washed-out visual style that suits the material, it was picked up by Working Title and earned back five times its budget despite its difficult subject matter. Hardwicke would go on to direct Twilight in 2008, though this remains the rawer, more personal work of the two.
As a parent, it's terrifying. I watched this when it first came out, as a 14-year-old boy, and back then it just seemed like a wild, edgy film about teens pushing boundaries. It was intense, sure, but kind of cool in that rebellious, misunderstood youth kind of way. Now, watching it as a parent to a 10 year old girl? It scares the absolute shit out of me. It’s raw, messy, and disturbingly real. Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed are brilliant in it, and the handheld style gives it that chaotic, spiralling energy. But it’s also hard to watch. It captures how quickly things can go off the rails at that age, and as a dad now, it hits very different.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2003 | Watched: 2025-04-18
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Catherine Hardwicke: Lords of Dogtown (2005)
More with Evan Rachel Wood: The Wrestler (2008)
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