Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed ’s 2003 film Thirteen is shocking even as an adult, but nothing compares to the experience of watching the R-rated film as an actual teenager. Wood starred as Tracy Freeland, who is an innocent 13-year-old when the movie begins. Tracy’s life isn’t perfect — her dad, Travis, ( D.
W. Moffett ) rarely makes good on his promises to see her and her well-intentioned but scattered single mom, Melanie, ( Holly Hunter ) keeps getting back together with her druggie boyfriend, Brady ( Jeremy Sisto ) — but she gets good grades, writes poetry and mostly pals around with her wholesome, longtime friend Noel ( Vanessa Hudgens ). Everything begins to change for Tracy when she befriends the coolest girl in school, Evie Zamora (Reed).
Desperate to fit in with Evie and seem more grown up, Tracy begins shoplifting, icing out her old friends, smoking weed and drinking. If this sounds like an after-school special or an anti-marijuana PSA from the early 2000s, trust Us , it gets so much more intense than that. What occurs over Thirteen ’s 100-minute run time is one of the most unflinching and upsetting examinations of adolescence out there.
It makes Euphoria seem tame, especially considering the fact that Wood and Reed were both 14 when shooting began. For those of Us who didn’t do whippets or try to have threesomes with adult men during seventh grade, Thirteen might seem unrealistic, but the film is based on the personal experiences of Reed, who cowrote .