Review of Short Term 12 (2013) by Brandon S — 13 May 2015

Beautiful and heart-breaking. This is an unconventional coming-of-age tale of sorts that explores love and family in a way that doesn't alienate or pander it's audience. That's becoming far too rare.

Brie Larson keeps things moving, but she wasn't the standout to me. This film's standout, to me anyway, was the wildly talented Keith Stanfield. Where did this kid come from? He gets to complex and emotional places that I've seen adult actors with years of experience fumble around with. This kid has a bright future.

This is also a movie with powerful, yet grounded direction. It touches on the subject of abandonment without simply acknowledging that it's a prevalent issue and doing nothing with it. This movie offers comfort, and things like that aren't possible just by the talents of a great cast, that comes from talented direction. And Cretton is absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, a talented director.

This is a touching movie that doesn't cater to the audience's boundaries. Cretton tells it like it is, and doesn't apologize for it. This is an important movie.