Tweet
Short Term 12 (2013)
Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Rami Malek, Stephanie Beatriz. Written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton.
Writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton (who’s from my home state of Hawaii), worked for a time after college in a group home for at-risk youth. He had to have, because the authenticity of the film whose setting and name are Short Term 12 and the authenticity of the characters who live and work there can only be explained by either employment or actual residence in such a home, which I explain now as a disclaimer for my really, really liking this film. My bias is strong (I have worked in such homes), and I was sold by the time seventeen minutes of film had spooled.
There is an awkward early moment provided by Nate (Rami Malek) on his first day as a counselor in the home. My own first days weren’t exactly like Nate’s, but they had their own awkwardness, which I remember with some embarrassment, and I have witnessed the same from many others on their first days. The movie’s not even secondarily about him, so deep does the realness of this movie go.
It’s about Grace (Brie Larson), who runs the daily operations of the house, and kind of about Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever), a new resident who resists the structure of the residence. Grace’s skill at managing the home are obvious and kind of amazing, and she demonstrates it in one scene after another, from the beginning of the film to the end. What makes someone so good at handling a workplace with such fragile, vulnerable clients and with the potential at any moment to explode from the pressure that seems always to be mere seconds from seeking release? There isn’t merely a single answer for this, and Cretton gives us a few suggestions by showing us how Grace and the counselors make it happen.
Although its name suggests this is a short-term residence for kids awaiting placement in foster homes or reunification with biological parents, most of them call it home for under a year and a few have been there for nearly three years. Each has his or her own story, of course, and we get to know a few of them as they are talked off the ledges (mostly figuratively) of the daily perils of their lives.
I’m sticking to descriptions of setting because to summarize the plot will either make it sound like a teen-problem-of-the-week movie or give away more about its primary characters than I would like, because this is not a movie about the kids, as great as the kids are. It’s about Grace, and it’s about her relationship with Mason (John Gallagher, Jr.), one of the counselors in the home, and it’s about what makes them and the others good at what they do and still maybe not so good at managing their own lives.
I should probably let this one settle in for a few days and then see it again before rating it, because I’m infatuated with one particular aspect of this movie, the kind of thing that tends to warp perspective, but with my disclaimer fully in place and my bias explained probably more than is necessary, I’m going ahead and saying I really, really like Short Term 12 and might grow to love it after another viewing or two. Highly recommended.
8/10 (IMDb rating)
88/100 (Criticker rating)
Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Rami Malek, Stephanie Beatriz. Written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton.
Writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton (who’s from my home state of Hawaii), worked for a time after college in a group home for at-risk youth. He had to have, because the authenticity of the film whose setting and name are Short Term 12 and the authenticity of the characters who live and work there can only be explained by either employment or actual residence in such a home, which I explain now as a disclaimer for my really, really liking this film. My bias is strong (I have worked in such homes), and I was sold by the time seventeen minutes of film had spooled.
There is an awkward early moment provided by Nate (Rami Malek) on his first day as a counselor in the home. My own first days weren’t exactly like Nate’s, but they had their own awkwardness, which I remember with some embarrassment, and I have witnessed the same from many others on their first days. The movie’s not even secondarily about him, so deep does the realness of this movie go.
It’s about Grace (Brie Larson), who runs the daily operations of the house, and kind of about Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever), a new resident who resists the structure of the residence. Grace’s skill at managing the home are obvious and kind of amazing, and she demonstrates it in one scene after another, from the beginning of the film to the end. What makes someone so good at handling a workplace with such fragile, vulnerable clients and with the potential at any moment to explode from the pressure that seems always to be mere seconds from seeking release? There isn’t merely a single answer for this, and Cretton gives us a few suggestions by showing us how Grace and the counselors make it happen.
Although its name suggests this is a short-term residence for kids awaiting placement in foster homes or reunification with biological parents, most of them call it home for under a year and a few have been there for nearly three years. Each has his or her own story, of course, and we get to know a few of them as they are talked off the ledges (mostly figuratively) of the daily perils of their lives.
I’m sticking to descriptions of setting because to summarize the plot will either make it sound like a teen-problem-of-the-week movie or give away more about its primary characters than I would like, because this is not a movie about the kids, as great as the kids are. It’s about Grace, and it’s about her relationship with Mason (John Gallagher, Jr.), one of the counselors in the home, and it’s about what makes them and the others good at what they do and still maybe not so good at managing their own lives.
I should probably let this one settle in for a few days and then see it again before rating it, because I’m infatuated with one particular aspect of this movie, the kind of thing that tends to warp perspective, but with my disclaimer fully in place and my bias explained probably more than is necessary, I’m going ahead and saying I really, really like Short Term 12 and might grow to love it after another viewing or two. Highly recommended.
8/10 (IMDb rating)
88/100 (Criticker rating)