Thirteen (Catherine Hardwicke, 2003)

Much as Larry Clark did with Kids, Thirteen seeks to debunk the rosy cliches of the American teenager film, with a truculent pubescent girl drifting into self-centered bad behaviour and an eventual set-to with her endlessly patient mother. She and her new best friend, a parasitic prima donna, proceed to steal, dress like tarts, take drugs and sleep around and generally make a nuisance of themselves in the manner of all infantile rebels. And that's about all there is. The performances are credible and parents of unruly teenagers can't complain about having been short-changed in terms of realism, but there's little point to it all beyond a rather naive mission to 'tell it like it is' from Hardwicke, and it's easy to lose the will to care amongst all the badly sound-recorded tantrums, mumbling and reliance on whiny soundtrack in place of plot-generated atmosphere.

4/10