Short Term 12 (2013)

  'Short Term 12' is a 2013 Indie film directed by Destin Cretton.

  At a child-correction facility, Nate has just arrived on his first day as working as a staff member. He is welcomed by two happy employees, Grace (Brie Larson) and Mason (John Hallagher Jr), and is shown around the facility. Things are not as they seem, as everyone has personal problems. Grace is pregnant and was beaten by her dad (whose returning from jail in 10 days). Mason is adopted, Jayden, the new girl in the facility, is also a victim of child abuse, and Marcus, an older kid, is just really angry. Friendships are made, relationships are broken, and everyone is tested to their limits.

  If you ever want to know what an 'Indie film' is, take a look at this. You can't get any more 'Indie' than this, filled with kookie characters, made on a small budget and is about how love triumphs everything. 'Short Term 12' has to be one of the best, as it is not as formulaic as one may expect.

  When writing a script for a film, the writer has to think of a key mismatch. A love affair between a rich and poor person, the journey from freedom to slavery, a pacifist in a war etc. The writer of 'Short Term 12' must have thought of every mismatch possible and wrote it into one script. I find too many mismatches problematic, but this is not a film about the script, or the insanely shaky camera-work. It's a film about the acting.

  Brie Larson portrays Grace superbly by not letting go her emotion, but instead, trying to keep it in. 2013 was a year for female acting legends, and I would put Brie close to Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine). Women in the movie industry are constantly undermined and type-casted, it's nice to see films where they are the centre of attention.

  With a cast of 12 or so, and not a single bad actor. Some of the kids were actually taken from correctional facilities and none of the actors have appeared in mainstream films before. The film plays out as a character-study, by placing different characters in unlikely events and seeing how things play out. How the characters act and react during the film, takes you on a genuinely believable, roller-coaster of emotion.

TO CONCLUDE
Acting seems less and less apparent in Hollywood as the years pass (especially with the passing of Hoffman). 'Short Term 12' defies this, and is a completely refreshing character study.

SCORE
77