TV Times

Thirteen, a chillingly graphic depiction of a teenage girl's rebellious shift after falling under the influence of a wayward friend, will be screened at American Centre at 6.30 pm Tuesday August 22.

Released in 2003, prolific production designer and art director Catherine Hardwicke made her directorial debut with the coming-of-age drama Thirteen.

Los Angeles teenager and overachiever Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) is an excellent student in her seventh grade class and gets along well with her mother, Melanie (Holly Hunter). She fears that she's not cool enough to be friends with Evie (Nikki Reed), the most popular girl in school. Fueled with genuine adolescent energy, Tracy follows Evie's lead into the harsh realities of sex, drugs, and hard-edged adventure. Consumed with temptations and conflicting desires, Tracy loses her good-girl identity, greatly affecting her relationship with her mom.

The film opens with Tracy and Evie sitting on a bed taking hits on an aerosol and challenging one another to punch each other. It's a stark opening made more effective when it cuts back only four months and shows a dramatically different looking Tracy heading off to her first day of the new school term. Her wholesome wardrobe and geeky friends suddenly seem dull in comparison with the sexy and popular Evie. After the two girls hook up, the impressionable Tracy quickly changes her image and enters Evie's debauched, reckless lifestyle.

Tracy's abrupt change is a concern for her single mom Mel, but as a recovering alcoholic struggling to hold her own life together, she's ill equipped to cope with her daughter's defiance. The conflict between the two is exacerbated when Mel takes up again with her junkie boyfriend Brady.

Partly autobiographical, Thirteen was co-written by Hardwicke and actual 13-year-old Nikkie Reed. Originally intending to write a teen comedy, they ended up creating a hard-hitting drama exposing the contemporary teenage experience. The film's script, written in six days, originally called for a comedic tone.

Thirteen was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, with Catherine Hardwicke taking home the Director's Award. Actress Holly Hunter was nominated for 2003 Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Both Hunter and Evan Rachel Wood were nominated for Golden Globes the same year, respectively for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress in a Drama. Jeff Levy-Hinte and Michael London produced 'Thirteen' for Antidote Films.