Mediocre Movie Club Movie Reviews

Short Term 12

3/6/2015

A-
3.67

The opening where Mason is explaining to Nate about the time he shit his pants...YES. - Blair
Short Term 12 is filled with near-imperceptible acts of deep. kindness. - Jon
Generally, I think child actors can be pretty bad, but here we see some pretty solid performances. - Shane

Initial review by: Blair

Wow. I'm so glad that I re-watched this film last night. The first time I watched it I really liked it, but I needed time away from it because in a way, it hit too close to home for me. Now, don't get me wrong, my job does not involve being with kids who have been displaced from their homes due to abuse, neglect, or bad behavior, but I do spend every week with kids who totally have fucked up family lives and experience cutting, depression, abuse, etc. Also I'm not a social worker, but I refer kids and families to them on a regular basis and while I whole heartedly believe in therapy, I also believe you have to find the right therapist and b/c they are human and b/c people are broken, and because they system is broken it doesn't work...or takes a long time to work. (Thinking of the scene where the social worker can't remove Jayden from her home (because of legit protocol) and maybe even doubts Grace's abilities.

What this film completely nails is the interaction between youth and adult (another huge reason this movie hits home). The awkwardness, the tender moments, the jokes, the being more sassy/open/cussing with kids who you know better. The opening scene where Mason is explaining to Nate about the time he shit his pants... YES. Putting yourself in a vulnerable place that is hilarious to others (shitting your pants/farting/etc) is a great way to get a kid to bring their guard down. Complimenting kids and being interested in what they are doing (regardless of if you are actually into it) is another way.

The film also completely nails how incredible youth are - creative, talented, clever, resilient, and thoughtful. The penises on Jayden's door. Marcus' rap...I mean - SERIOUSLY, the rap! And Mason's reaction is SPOT ON - what do you say when a kid opens their heart like that and shows you how incredibly broken his life has been??? Jayden's response to Grace almost beating her father with a bat, "A little extreme, don't you think?" and then after Grace explains some of her situation to Jayden, she says, "you're gonna be a great mom." Society often labels youth as lazy, selfish, and unproductive (and they can certainly be and are those things, they are still developing...and honestly many adults never move beyond this); we overlook and certainly rarely expect greatness from anyone in high school. But, obviously, I firmly believe that if we listen, and especially if we give them the space, youth say and do amazing things all the time.

What is profound about this film is that is speaks both to the brokenness of all humanity and resiliency we possess. Specifically, the resiliency that youth possess and what they can give back to heal others. Grace - even her name is perfect - experienced unthinkable abuse as a teenager and lives her life caring for hurting youth; and Jayden, some who is a current teen, who is currently experiencing trauma, helps start the healing process for Grace. It's beautiful. I had tears in my eyes the entire film.

I love it all. Are you annoyed with me, yet? A++

34 Comments

Drew

3/8/2015 04:56:38 am

This film was....something.

Aside from the meaning and story Blair discussed, this film was interesting. It had my attention and told a relatable story. To be honest, Lawson reminded me of Blair and Gallagher, Shane. They make comments that I can hear Blair and Shane make, not to mention their mannerisms are similar. Cute and annoying at times.

On to a personal note. Some of you know I used to teach at a girl's treatment facility before moving to Bloomington and going to graduate school in Rhode Island. In 2007, I lived in Crawfordsville and worked at a place called the Ladoga Academy. It was a rehab facility for troubled females from Indiana and parts of Michigan and Ohio. They were court ordered to attend for either their protection or punishment. The girls neither wanted to be there nor talk to anyone. Other than the Red Sox winning the World Series and my fantasy baseball team making the playoffs for the first time, 2007 was one of, if not the worst years of my life.

Every single thing about that movie reminded me about that place. The facility had good intentions but the people in charge were incompetent. The frustration I felt was nothing ever experienced and it turned me into a completely different person than I am now. Leaving it was the best decision I made, and I was ecstatic upon reading its closure in the spring of 2009. That place operated two years past its expiration date.

I honestly cannot give an unbiased review of the film. Every single emotion that I placed away and thought ended came rushing back like a flood in the first scene when the kid ran out of the building screaming. I will never rewatch that film.

What I can say is that it pulls at the viewer’s emotions and does so effectively. Along with that, it tells an interesting story.

Grade: B

Shane

3/9/2015 02:17:13 pm

I can see myself as Mason in that my Spanish is questionable, my hair is dumb and curly, and I got jokes!

3/10/2015 04:04:11 am

I could so hear you say, "I hate Floyd."

Blair

3/9/2015 02:19:11 pm

Drew, while I completely sympathize with your experience, isn't the mark of an excellent film one that can capture the essence of an experience? Even, and especially when, that experience is so hard.

3/9/2015 02:21:18 pm

Agree with Blair. If a movie can make me feel an emotion in a non-manipulative fashion, I think that's a credit to that film. I don't need to like the character or the emotion either. Though, I understand if that is just such a bad time in your life that nothing positive can come out of it.

Jon

3/9/2015 08:41:03 pm

I get it. Though I think film is a great way to explore and give new meaning to a difficult personal experience, it can also just be too raw. I remember when the Indonesian tsunami film The Impossible came out, survivors had freak-outs in theaters just from watching the trailer.

Sean

3/10/2015 02:43:13 am

I first read Jon as Joe and got excited that Joe was going to post something :(

3/10/2015 03:56:12 am

I cannot explain how awful that place was. I'll try. I had five different bosses and had to follow every directive they gave, even if it went against the directive I just received.

Every day was a battlefield because all the administrators tried to outmaneuver each other. I felt like a chess piece and if something went wrong, I was to blame.

There were others who had nothing to do with education who would pull me out of the classroom to inform me I needed to pay a dollar because I wore jeans. After explaining how that is not a current problem, I was forced to get the dollar. Now, this was in my office because I did not carry my wallet because one of the students could steal it. You can imagine why I was unhappy.

The turnover rate was on par with a Taco Bell restaurant. Work there three months and you had seniority.

There were many times I had to use trained defensive skills on students and moments when they wanted to fight me. Despite that, the girls were the reason I went to work and the colleagues were the reason I ran out of the building at 4pm.

The girls needed help and the program was helpful but those in charge had no clue how to run it. They were very aware of how to make a ship sink and when it did, I was happy. Happy for the students and employees. Yes, they were out of a job but they were set free.

I went through a terrible emotional phase, some may call it depression, and seriously contemplated suicide. That's how bad 2007 was for me.

When I left around Thanksgiving, I was nervous but liberated from that terrible place. Moving to Bloomington was one of the best things I ever did. That apartment, though small, was exactly what I needed.

I do not have fond memories of the Ladoga Academy but it made me a better person.

I apologize for all that emotional spew but that is a place I never want to visit. Yes, we have stressful times and need to manage them but those nine months was stress tenfold.

More to the point of the film, maybe it is a quality of the film for those memories to reappear and it was a good film. I just happened not to like it as well as others.

Bryan

3/8/2015 01:49:10 pm

Thanks for the escape from my daily work, Blair. /sarcasm. :-)

The premise of this movie is unique. I want a sequel that shows parental dysfunction and how screwed up a kid's life is because their parents are morons, drunk, gone, or in jail.

This movie would be better title "Frances Ha with heart" Brie was a troubled character with multiple life crises occuring, but she still has the time and energy to look after those kids. Amazing. And I'm even more amazed by people who do this for a living. I don't know how they hold up emotionally, physically, or mentally. To top it off they probably make pennies when these are some of the most valuable assets in our communities.

Marcus' poem, Sammy's escapes, and Jayden's drawings still stand out a week after watching the movie. I loved each and every character except Jessica and Nate. Nate was awkward to watch - he didn't seem comfortable in that role Jessica didn't play her character far enough from Brooklyn 99.

When Nate mentioned underprivileged (or something similar) at the beginning and the kids lay into him, I thought the directors held the characters back. Teenagers can be brutal; I wanted to see it how uncomfortably I imagine scenes like that play out in facilities across our country.

I couldn't relate to Jayden's character professionally or personally having fortunately never gone through something like that. So I don't have much to say about her other than when she and other characters have breakdowns. Those breakdowns are real and well done - Jon's argument against Good Will Hunting is that scene, but I don't see these kids as much different. Life sucks for them.

And done with my scattered thoughts - liked this one a lot. A-.

3/9/2015 02:14:39 pm

I thought a good demonstration on the importance of parenting was between Mason and Grace. Mason is supposed to be the fucked up one because he's a adopted. But because Grace is physically and sexually abused, she's messed up. Mason isn't because his parents are obviously good people.

3/9/2015 02:12:05 pm

Well, I had heard wonderful things about this movie. Blair even said, "Hey, this is a wonderful movie." Happy to say that she was 100% correct. To be honest, I find the movie so good, that it's hard to even give a positive review.

To begin with, it's really hard to make a compassionate movie that is entertaining and avoids being corny all while not being manipulative. Destin Daniel Cretton's Short Term 12 successfully navigates these waters. Reading a review today of Boyhood, it was pointed out that the one really glaring negative of that movie was that it had a White Savior scene. It was an odd scene, but I don't think White Savior was remotely what Linklater was going for. But it shows how easy something like that is to let seep through. Linklater spent 12 years on that project and it never occurred to him. Short Term 12 could have fallen into this trap, but it doesn't. They don't save every kid.

They could have done that with Keith Stanfield's Marcus, but they don't. Marcus remains angry and attempts suicide. Sure, they literally save his life, but he's still being thrown to metaphorical wolves by the staff (because government, yo). Speaking of Marcus, I think Stanfield nailed that role. Equal parts charismatic and sad. He seemed like a cool dude that any other kid would want to be around, but that whiffle ball game exposed his vulnerabilities. Then they follow it up with the poignant rap/poem scene later. It got a little dusty in the Setnor household there.

Sticking with performances, it's a Brie Larson and John Gallagher had great chemistry and I feel like they came off as a legitimate couple. It's obvious early that Larson's Grace is somehow flawed and we slowly and painfully find out her issue. And it's not through an overt piece of dialogue, Cretton just lets Larson show us Grace's pain through other actions and scenes. The shower scene absolutely sticks out to me. So many times we hear victims of rape talking about how they can never feel clean and I couldn't help but think of that as she had the wash cloth over her face.

And Gallagher's Mason has a different past that I didn't see coming. You would have expected him to act less with it as an adopted kid. But it's clear his adoptive parents are good people, so he really was saved by them. Cretton going with a Hispanic couple is a nice touch that was hinted at earlier in the movie.

Generally, I think child actors can be pretty bad. But here we see some pretty solid performances. Kaitlyn Dever does a pretty good job of a jerk-off teenage girl while Kevin Hernandez pulls off the happy go-lucky teen. In particular, Dever's eyeliner is freaking spot on. A lot of this is a credit to Cretton again as he nails their actions and dialogue in the script.

Working with teenagers as a coach and as a pastor's wife really made this movie hit me emotionally as well. I can't say it any better than Blair, really. Of course, there's that cliche "I learn more from my kids than they learn from me," which taken literally is a dumb saying. Seriously, kids are dumb as hell. But what kids do is force you to reflect on yourself and your choices. This movie forces Grace and Mason to do that. It also prods the viewer to do that as well, but doesn't do so in a manipulative way. There are no random deaths or violence. It doesn't show us a child being beaten. It mostly gives us words and actions. It doesn't even give us an I told you so to a boss that obviously cares about the kids, but also has to be an administrator.

Of course, have to mention Rami Malek, UE alum. I think his talent was a bit wasted here, but I liked how they weaved his character in. Newbies are an easy way to establish your world (Think Fiji Musical Madness 03-04). But this can be abused. Cretton avoids that and only lets Malek in when it makes sense.

In the end, one scene is keeping this from an A+ for me. It's when Grace enters the Dad's room with a baseball bat. It just seemed a bit too implausible for me.

This one is an A.

3/10/2015 02:47:08 am

My favorite part of your review is that you're a pastors wife. Hopefully Geoff doesn't do the pastor's daughter stuff and end up in Magic Mike XXXXXXL

3/11/2015 04:05:16 pm

Id be so proud of our gay son.

3/12/2015 04:08:53 pm

I was implying male stripper not gay. I love the gays but male strippers give me the creeps

3/9/2015 08:45:53 pm

This is the second time I've watched Short Term 12, and it loses nothing on another viewing. To summarize my Letterboxd review (shameless plug), it's naturalistic and empathetic, mostly avoiding melodrama while creating an interesting universe populated by layered and varied characters. I gave it an A- then, and ranked it as my 12th favorite film of 2013. This is all to establish that I love this movie, and want to use this review to expand on a few things brought up by other members and get into a few spoiler-y things I avoided in my initial write-up.

I'll first echo praise for Keith Stanfield, who I think steals the film. The actor has huge, expressive eyes that generate even more sympathy on top of the great writing and acting around Marcus. Through those eyes, the viewer can get out all his fear and doubt and anger, often at the same time. The rap scene is probably the best in the film, with Cretton exercising the restraint to not cut to Mason until after it's all over, instead focusing on Marcus for the whole scene. The later scene where Grace shaves his head killed me, with his child-like assumption that his head is still lumpy from all the abuse it took when he was younger, and the cathartic release after finding out it's not. How can everything be physically normal when just beneath his skull, he's still a warped mess? Stanfield owns every scene he's in, and I'm glad to see he's got a lot of upcoming credits on IMDB.

The character I paid closer attention to this time around was Nate. Proud UE son Rami Malek is given the most unlikable character in a movie that alludes implicitly and explicitly to rapist dads, but I think he nails a difficult role. The opening scene is a lot of things. It's a character introduction, it's skillful exposition, and I also think it's a very friendly challenge to Nate the newbie. Be willing to risk physical danger and humiliation for these kids, or GTFO. Nate's like a Teach For America candidate, taking a break from his comfortable life built in with fail-safes and nets to wallow in misery tourism. Maybe he'll be able to really reach a kid or two, but he's mostly using them for anecdotes, resume-building, and life experience. The alternate (perhaps better, but likely worse) version of this film is about him as an audience surrogate, his selfish intentions giving way to dedication and service. Though I could've hated the character, I didn't due to the awkwardness that Malek adds to Nate. He's trying, and his late gesture to Sammy killed me. Short Term 12 is filled with near-imperceptible acts of deep kindness, and I very much appreciated that Nate is able to eventually get in on the game.

I'll add to the acclaim that has been given to John Gallagher Jr and Brie Larson as the two leads. I hated Gallagher's character in the Newsroom and Larson's in Don Jon, but this wipes away all of that. They have phenomenal chemistry with each other and the teenage actors, without a single false reading. As a member of the mumblecore genre, I'd guess a lot of Short Term 12 was improvised, especially the lighter scenes between Grace and Mason. When Mason flips over his drawing of Grace, her reaction felt totally honest, like the actress and the character were both seeing it for the first time. They both are simply good people, invested with depth by the actors.

Of the lesser characters, Luis was a lot of fun, and he needed his own scenes, but sad, tiny Sammy wrecked me multiple times. Fun fact: in the deleted scenes, it's revealed that he's there because his father killed his mom and daughter in front of Sammy before killing himself. It was probably right to leave that out of the film. What should have been included was a rendition of Big and Small, a real game he just made up.

3/10/2015 02:50:02 am

I really wanted to know what Big and Small was

3/11/2015 04:07:42 pm

I was not interested. One of my pet peeves is games that don't make sense and people who can't follow simple rules when playing a game. There are freaking rules for a reason, damnit. Like at parties where you're playing a drinking game and there's always two people playing who forget the rules or space out and everyone has to wait. That kid's game would have been a trigger for me.

3/12/2015 04:17:13 pm

You're right about the drinking games, if you're not here to get your drink on then get the f out of here. But I had felt like like little Sammy had been thinking this one up, he was too excited to suggest it otherwise

3/9/2015 08:46:46 pm

Cretton as an up-and-coming writer/director is someone to keep an eye on. I love the way he puts scenes together in an accumulative fashion. The best example is the details when Jayden is waiting for her dad to come get her. First, she sees another person happily leave with what might be her family, then her face very subtly starts to change, then she starts picking at her hand, then she sees the shark on TV, foreshadowing her later story. It all culminates in her raw breakdown, a close second for best scene of the film. Cretton also adds in a bunch of telling details that build the world without a line of dialogue. I immediately get what that blow-up dog is for in an early quick shot. Grace and Jayden sit on her bed and draw together, a perfect mirror image down to the way they're seated. The warm and intimate de-escalation process that we see the workers perform. The worn-ness of the pages and the splotches in Jayden's diary as she reads that chilling story about Nora the Octopus, and the way Grace essentially water-boards herself in the shower after hearing about her dad's release. The world in this movie is such that the movie itself is too short. There's a lot of sadness and dysfunction, but it allows for moments that utterly transcend all that and raise the whole universe up. I want more time here.

However, I do think the script is too on the nose in a lot of places, beginning with Grace's name. I wanted to use that word to describe some of the aforementioned acts of kindness, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Cretton could've named her anything else. Was her full name Grace Despite Incest? I also think the writing is on the wall for Marcus's suicide attempt in such an obvious way, that it approaches negligence on the part of the staff. He's giving all his stuff away, he talks about how nothing will matter soon, he's deeply agitated about his upcoming release. I shouldn't feel smarter than these characters, as they do a job with a level of emotional intelligence I can't even fathom. It felt like the film wanted a late shock, and this is the one they landed on. It's not that Marcus shouldn't feel suicidal: it's that there should've been more intervention before it happened, especially from Grace D. Incest who has likely attempted suicide before. For that matter, his happy epilogue is like something out of a fairy tale, and unearned considering the last time we see him is bleeding out on the floor.

Smaller negatives include the strange inclusion of Mason's parents' anniversary party. Those are great scenes, as lived-in as anything else in the film, but I don't think they fit in the film. There's a trade-off between time spent at the facility and time spent outside of it with Mason and Grace, and it's one I wish Cretton wouldn't have made. Again, I wanted more time in the world of the facility. These aren't bad scenes, but that time could've been better spent elsewhere. Lastly, in the aforementioned shot that captures Jayden and Grace drawing, I figured out that they were going to be mirror characters. I didn't need them to share so many other similarities, down to their hobbies and tics. I got it from that one beautiful shot, and everything after devalued it.

None of those negatives are enough to knock Short Term 12 out of A territory, though they do result in an A-. It is packed with great scenes from frame one to the end credits. It's a mind-opening, empathy-generating experience, capturing the depths and heights of humanity in its short running time.

3/10/2015 02:56:17 am

Disagree on the scene with Mason's family, I loved it, it showed us what inspired Mason to work with these kids and it came from a place of love and support as an opposition to Grace's inspiration from her own personal hell. In the moment it also allowed the viewer and Grace to see a happy family and that there is escape and love available. His proposal on the dance-floor with his parents watching in the background and then later the ultrasound were two very intimate/positive moments surrounded in a film short on them and they didn't feel forced at all but very natural.

3/10/2015 03:10:27 pm

Agree with Sean!!!

3/11/2015 04:09:21 pm

3/11/2015 04:49:03 pm

This is one of those cases where I'm conflicted between the movie that is and the one that I would've preferred. If the movie never left the group home, I would've had fewer complaints. I basically think the film's flawless when it's there, so time spent away has a big hill to climb. If the point is to demonstrate that Mason was a foster kid and turned out well, there's much more efficient ways to demonstrate it. It demonstrates it through Marcus's happy ending, while inorganic, is a much more relevant to the best part of the movie. Every scene at the group home featuring Mason showcased his basic decency, I not as interested where it came from. Ideally, the movie's not about him or Grace either, but about the kids that they work with and how Mason and Grace and Stephanie and even Nate improve their lives.

Because those scenes that are only Grace and/or Mason are just as humane as the rest of the movie, it doesn't knock Short Term 12 out of the A's. But those scenes are the equivalent of Poochie, such that whenever the group home isn't on screen, I'm asking "Where's the group home?"

3/10/2015 03:37:43 am

"It felt like the film wanted a late shock, and this is the one they landed on. It's not that Marcus shouldn't feel suicidal: it's that there should've been more intervention before it happened, especially from Grace D."

This was a great scene, but there are a dozen kids and 4 employees. There is only so much intervention which can be done.

3/11/2015 04:52:11 pm

Sure, there's more kids than staff, but they know he's having a rough time with his looming release. Grace can be excused because she's distracted by her father, but the rest of them should have been on high alert.

3/15/2015 02:28:25 am

Well errors make them human. And those human errors make this a great movie.

Mindy

3/10/2015 02:18:02 am

I liked it.

3/10/2015 03:13:52 pm

Mindy for the win!

3/11/2015 04:00:41 am

I'm very suspicious Mindy logged in and commented, Bryan or Shane, but leaning toward Bryan

Not Shane

3/11/2015 04:08:54 pm

Wasn't me (I'm Shane).

Dingo

3/15/2015 02:29:06 am

Ggggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

3/10/2015 03:03:16 am

So I turned this on last night right after the kids went to bed and before Mindy could tell me to turn on a cooking show or Mad Men. Within 10 minutes she was clearly watching the movie not just sitting in the room with a movie on, so I think that's a good sign the movie is engaging.

I think what makes Short Term 12 so successful is its ability to be so relatable to people even without the more difficult experiences of "under-priviledge" If you've ever been to camp or college orientation you've played ice-breaker games and experienced some people who were born to play those games and some people who pretend to be too cool only to eventually come around and some who are still too cool and some who can't be a part of the group. So it's not an impossible leap for even the "priviledged" to be able to relate to this movie.

The acting was pretty great all around, Grace, Mason, Marcus, and Jayden all played their parts very well.
Mid way through typing this I went and read the other reviews and offered side comments so I'll skip some of that here. What I will say is I think Remi nailed the Nate part, probably the most difficult part to pull off authentically without being completely hated in the whole movie, he's awkward and in over his head from the word go and I think that part has more degree of difficulty to pull off as a 2nd tier character.

Realistic but heartbreaking is Jack shutting Grace down with the -you're line staff line. I'm sure that happens every day at places like this all over, bureaucracy at its finest but I also understand the position he's in.

I liked the bookends to the movie starting and ending with a story and an escape chase, it shows us that despite the heavy interactions in between that this is still their job and it will continue even after Marcus has moved on and Jayden is saved and so on and so on.

A+

3/10/2015 03:42:26 am

The story, while a bit cheesy, along with the chases were great bookends. Good call.

Tom

5/10/2015 08:17:14 am

I did not have much hope for this movie going in but after watching was pleasantly surprised. I liked the low complexity of the the cinematography. The straight forward style matched the straightforward honesty of the writing.

B-

Short Term 12

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