Review of Short Term 12 (2013) by Brad S — 04 Mar 2014

Before his first day working at a short term facility for troubled youth, Nate(Rami Malek) listens to a story from Mason(John Gallagher Jr., of "The Newsroom"). Grace(Brie Larson), their supervisor, also takes the time to inform Nate of the rules like what to do when Sammy(Alex Calloway) makes a break for it. Inside, Nate says he took the job to work with underprivileged kids which Marcus(Keith Stanfield) takes grave offense to. When he turns 18, all Marcus wants for his birthday is to have his head shaven. Jayden(Kaitlyn Dever, of "Justified"), a new arrival, figures she will not be sticking around the facility long enough for her to turn 18. Outside, Grace and Mason are a couple, with Mason wondering why it has been 9 days and 13 hours since they have had sex. Maybe that has something to do with Grace being pregnant which Mason does not know about, yet.

If you have to see only one movie about troubled teenagers this September featuring Brie Larson...well, I haven't seen "The Spectacular Now," yet, so it will have to be "Short Term 12" which in any case is very much worth it, especially due to its excellent performances. In addition to one scene that almost made me want to cry, the movie uses humor well to modulate the emotions and to relieve the tension while the characters use it to deflect. Overall, this is a situation where all the characters, both adults and teenagers, are facing an uncertain future where the youth are watched over by people not much older than they are. Of particular interest is Grace, whose past is gradually revealed and knowing what she knows about herself has to decide what kind of parent she will be, if any.