Short Term 12 (2013)

Whenever someone on Twitter says that Brie Larson can't act there's always someone that brings up Short Term 12 to prove the contrary. Now I love Brie Larson as, to me, she's always proven she can act, but since I had never seen the film, I checked it out. 

The story mainly focuses on Grace (Brie Larson), the young supervisor of a group home for troubled teenagers called Short Term 12, who lives with her long-term boyfriend and coworker, Mason (John Gallagher Jr.). While facing personal issues as she finds out she's pregnant, she has to deal with two difficult kids at the home, Marcus (Lakeith Stanfield), a quiet kid who is about to turn eighteen but doesn't want to leave the facility as he's not ready to face the world out there, and Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever), a troubled teenage girl who seems to be deeply scarred. 

As you can probably tell, Short Term 12 is not a plot-heavy film. It's instead a film that tells a simple and yet complicated, complex story about real people, facing real problems, and that deals with themes such as mental health, domestic abuse, self-harm, depression, and emotional trauma with sensitivity and without being judgemental. This is when it really shows that director and writer Destin Cretton lived this situation — he had a two-year experience in a similar caregiving facility — and he makes great use of his personal experience. 

Unfortunately, the characters aren't nearly as complex nor as developed as one would expect from a film relying on its characters so much as Short Term 12 does. While they are not shallow, the characters could have used more characterization and development — they feel incomplete and their development is quite disappointing as there isn't much progression in their lives. Also, the main character, Grace, never seems challenged as she always seems more capable of handling the problems she faces. 

Cinedigm

Despite the not-too-strong screenplay, the cast does a pretty good job. While the role is somewhat predictable, Brie Larson does a great job as Grace, the caring young woman who tries to help others but can't help herself and keeps her problems away from everyone else. She adds so much soul to the character and portrays both Grace's fragility and toughness very well. As for the supporting cast, Lakeith Stanfield delivers quite a powerful performance as Marcus, Kaitlyn Dever gives a solid performance as Jayden, and John Gallagher Jr. is effective as Grace's boyfriend. 

The cinematography, although not particularly beautiful, gets the job done as the shaky camera helps set the tone for these people's world and makes the film, the story feel more real. 

This, however, is not enough to make of Short Term 12 a throughout compelling and engaging film. Actually, it never really involved me as I felt barely any emotion or empathy toward the characters.