When it premiered at 2013 South By Southwest Film Festival, Destin Cretton’s
“Short Term 12” enjoyed about as successful a debut as any young director could
hope. It generated deafeningly positive buzz before going on to win the
festival’s grand-jury award as well as the audience award. Despite such
auspicious beginnings, the film mostly flew under the radar of general
audiences. Those who saw the film loved it, but without a national theatrical
release, opportunities to see it were scarce. Now, thanks to the Dryden
Theatre, the film finally gets its Rochester premiere this weekend, and it’s
every bit as wonderful as I had hoped.
Grace (Brie Larson, “21 Jump Street”)
is the 20something supervisor at Short Term 12, a temporary foster care center
for at-risk youth. At work, she regularly urges her charges not to bottle up
their emotions, to share their feelings, but it’s
advice she seems unable to heed herself. She’s in a long-term relationship with
her co-worker Mason (John Gallagher Jr., “The Newsroom”), and despite their
closeness, she remains unable to open up to him fully. She cares passionately
about the kids in her care, and the film shares her immense empathy for the
damaged, but innately decent kids that reside at Short Term 12. Cretton gives his film a loose, observational structure,
allowing us to get a sense of the rhythms of the daily lives of these
characters, and the film is at its best when it allows us to simply take it all
in.
A plot does gradually emerge, as a new
resident enters the facility, a young girl named Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever).
Sarcastic and prone to violent outbursts, Jayden has a variety of defense
mechanisms to protect herself from whatever trauma she has faced. Grace relates
immediately to the girl, whose situation is far too familiar to Grace. Their
connection forces Grace to confront her own demons, which she has been trying
to ignore for much too long.
Things get a little too tidy in the
film’s second half, especially for a film so focused on the messiness of the
lives of such damaged people. But by that point I couldn’t have cared less — I
was deeply invested in what happened to these characters. Even when things turn
somewhat screenwriterly, Cretton
shows restraint, always underplaying the big moments and keeping them grounded
in an emotional reality.
“Short Term 12” was filmed with all the
realism of non-fiction, so it comes as no surprise to learn that Cretton has experience working at a group home similar to
the one depicted here. The documentary-like naturalism is aided by
cinematographer Brett Pawlak’s lovely handheld
camerawork, which favors close-ups, but avoids feeling overly intrusive.
The film also benefits from
pitch-perfect performances. Brie Larson, who for years has been doing
interesting work in supporting roles in films like “Scott Pilgrim vs. the
World,” “Don Jon,” and “The Spectacular Now,” is the wounded heart of the film
and her performance is among the best of the year. John Gallagher Jr.’s role is
even more subtle; he offers unyielding support, but makes it clear that
patience does have its limits. As good as Larson is, Gallagher is every bit her
equal.
They’re also a part of a remarkable
ensemble of child actors. These kids aren’t quirky one-liner delivery systems;
they are fully developed, complicated individuals. Though most only get a line
or two, there is a sense that the camera could have followed any one of them
and found a compelling, richly detailed story. Special
mention must be made of Kaitlyn Dever’s touching
performance as Jayden, whose tough exterior barely covers a deep network of
physical and emotional scars, and Keith Stanfield, who plays Marcus, the
eldest resident of Short Term 12. The a scene in which Marcus performs a rap
song, allowing the normally quiet and reserved boy to express the deep-seated
fears and resentments he keeps bottled up, is one of startling emotional power.
Perhaps the highest compliment I can
give “Short Term 12” is that, in spite of its subject, it is never unbearably
depressing. Destin Cretton’s film is ultimately
hopeful, delivering an honest and moving portrait of a group of people most of
society too often forgets, while paying tribute to the people who dedicate
their lives to doing everything within their power to help them.
This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2014.
