‘Thirteen’ not quite believable

A film that opens with two 13-year-old girls giggling on a bed feels

normal enough, but when the camera reveals they’re sniffing hair

spray and one invites the other to punch her, you sense their

relationship might not be so normal. When they strike each other and

giggle harder because the “high” has rendered their faces numb, you

know, without a doubt, that you are in the land of independent film.

And so begins Catherine Hardwicke’s directorial debut, “Thirteen,” a

movie that tries hard to be edgy and provocative, but often ends up

being silly. It is a relentless barrage of bad behavior.

The most notable element of “Thirteen” worth mentioning is the

nuanced, intuitive performance by Evan Rachel Wood, best known until

now as Billy Campbell’s daughter for three seasons on television’s

“Once and Again.” Wood gives a high-caliber break-out performance,

the momentum of which could propel her career into high gear. She

plays Tracy, a middle school student who still builds her wardrobe

around the bright, chirpy colors of childhood -- and pays the price

for it at school, where her classmates deride her with merciless

contempt. Tracy quickly attaches herself to Evie (Nikki Reed), the

main attraction on campus with her dazzling ability to use her body

and attitude to convey the sexually charged images propagated in mass

media advertisement -- she is a walking Abercrombie and Fitch

catalog. From there the two girls bond, then spend the next 70

minutes going on a rebellious rampage that includes stops at sex,

drugs, body piercings, violence and a little angst thrown in for good

measure.

My main problem with “Thirteen” is that the character development

lacks credibility. I believe teenage girls would do these things, I

don’t believe they would do all these things in such a compressed

span of time. Although Wood injects Tracy with a believable

vulnerability, I was baffled by her lack of reservation when

confronted with increasingly dangerous situations. She never resists

Evie’s requests, and worse still, she doesn’t seem horrified or

frightened by them. The characters in this film take action, but the

actions rarely make sense. Instead, the narrative barrels forward,

pushing onto the next shocking episodic event. Hardwicke appears

desperate to keep the forward momentum going -- afraid that if the

movie stops to take a breath, the audience may realize just how

simplistic it is. She seems more comfortable hiding behind the nausea

inducing digital camerawork, or the rapid fire editing.

“Thirteen” does, however, boasts another stellar performance in

Holly Hunter, who is the most fleshed-out character in the film. The

fear, rage and helplessness on her face is authentic and earned. She

is neither the best mother on the planet or the worst -- she’s caring

and nurturing, but sometimes emotionally unavailable. Nikki Reed can

be found at the other end of the talent scale. Although she co-wrote

the script and knows the world, her character is one-dimensional and

pitiless. It’s easy to see that she’s manipulative and lies about

being sexually molested to get her way, but I never sensed a human

being below the glossy surface. It could be that the character is

just so far gone that she’s buried herself too deep -- I think it’s

more likely the complexity was a bit beyond Reed’s capabilities. Next

to Wood, Reed is a glaring neophyte.

* ALLEN MacDONALD, 30, recently earned a master’s in screenwriting

from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

‘Magdalene Sisters’ arouses activism

This poignant, enraging story exposes the torture-filled

sweatshops known as Magdalene Asylums of Ireland, run by the Sisters

of Mercy and the Catholic Church.

Set during non-fictional circumstances in 1960s Ireland, this

fictional account involves three girls, Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff)

Bernadette (Nora-Jane Noone) and Rose (Dorothy Duffy,) who are

branded with shame for their “crimes” of pride, beauty and unwed

motherhood, and the “sin” of being raped. Although the characters are

“made-up” they are an amalgamation of many girls stories who

experienced life as prisoners of these institutions. Their stories

echo the feelings of embarrassment, guilt, helplessness and emptiness

told by birthmothers throughout the world who were victimized by the

adoption practices of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Thrown away by society and their kin, these birthmothers are

dropped into the unmerciful laps of the Sisters of Mercy who

administer a grueling regimen of numbing laundry work, obedience and

silence, complete with ritual punishment and will-breaking

humiliation. Sister Bridget (Geraldine McEwan) hardly looks up from

organizing her finances when first the girls are brought in, but her

miserly expression switches from careless melancholy to livid hatred

upon any indication of disfavor by anyone. The laundries are more

hell-like than purgatory, and director Peter Mullan succeeds in

evoking emotional responses from his audience regarding the

atrocities that continued on an estimated 30,000 women up until as

late as 1997. Mullan’s script derives from a documentary, “Sex in a

Cold Climate.” It is somewhat unusual that Mullan chose to cast

himself in a role as a young girl’s father who proclaims in one scene

after beating his daughter that she and all the other girls “are all

whores.” Perhaps he wanted to show a more intimate portrayal of why

society turned a blind eye to these injustices for such a long time.

Although Mullan might have given his film more depth by giving

more dimension to his antagonists, “The Magdalene Sisters” is a film

worth experiencing and processing so that similar violations do not

occur again.

* RAY BUFFER, 33, is a professional singer, actor and voice-over

artist.

Step into theaters for amazing stories

Nothing could be more quintessential Huntington Beach than topping

off a perfect summer day by viewing a world-class surf movie at our

Downtown theater. I had the pleasure of doing just that recently by

catching a showing of Dana Brown’s excellent “Step Into Liquid.”

Any worthwhile surf movie contains footage of surfers challenging

waves as big as office buildings and “Step Into Liquid” certainly

offers more than its fair share. Showing the world’s best surfers

tackling the planet’s “gnarliest” waves is just part of the story

expertly told in this surprisingly touching film.

Instead of relying solely on its stunning surf footage, “Step Into

Liquid” tackles the more difficult task of explaining the allure of

the sport. Through numerous vignettes the film illustrates the

intense love of the sport that is lifelong for many the featured

subjects.

There’s the school custodian who’s somewhat the Lou Gehrig of

surfing, not missing a day in the water for more than 20 years. Then

there are the Galveston, Texas die-hards chasing supertankers to surf

for 20 minutes at a clip on the wake from these giant ships. Or,

consider the Sheboygan, Wisconsin Great Lakes surfers who brave

freezing water and ridicule to engage in their sport.

Other intriguing stories include the father and son who return to

Vietnam 30 years after the father’s military service to search for

elusive waves, or the three American Malloy brothers surfing in

Ireland, the mother country of their forefathers, where their surfing

lessons offer a rare opportunity for Protestant and Catholic children

to play together. The most heart-tugging episode tells the story of

quadriplegic surfer Jesse Billauer, an aspiring professional crippled

in a surfing accident at 17. Determined to keep surfing, Billauer

surfs on his belly after being carried to a board by his friends.

These very human stories represent the heart and soul of “Step

Into Liquid,” but that doesn’t mean the scenes of professional

surfers pushing the performance envelope of their sport is any less

exhilarating. Exotic locales featured in the film include Tahiti

(where professional women surfers are featured), Easter Island,

Australia, Costa Rica and Hawaii.

The climax of the film takes us 100 miles off San Diego where surf

watchers and weather trackers have calculated a once in a 10-year

occurrence will produce gigantic waves with perfect shape. Towed into

the waves by jet skis, these daring athletes glide down the face of

walls of water more than 60-feet tall. This is the ultimate in “big

wave” surfing and is akin to a mountaineer conquering Everest.

Dana Brown is the son of “Endless Summer” director Bruce Brown and

he ably continues the family franchise. This film will make surfers

want to find bigger waves and may convince non-surfers to get in the

water. I urge you to take advantage of this rare opportunity to see a

well reviewed but narrowly distributed film right in your back yard.

* VAN NOVACK, 50, is the director of institutional research at Cal

State Long Beach and lives in Huntington Beach with his wife

Elizabeth.