Short Term 12

Short Term 12, 2013. An employee at a short-term foster care facility had a bad childhood.

Written & directed by Destin Cretton. Starring Brie Larson.

Concept: Why is it that about 1 in 3 indie dramas are about child abuse? What is the obsession? D
Story: B
Characters: A
Dialog: B
Pacing: C
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: The cast turns what would have been a run-of-the-mill coping-with-abuse story (seriously, why are there so many of these movies?) into something fairly remarkable. A
Music: B
Enjoyment: (Spoilers ahead.) There's a character who likes to tell stories, and it's pointed out that he's not necessarily faithful to reality. He chooses to end his favorite story at a happy point, although the "real ending" is bluntly tragic. This movie would seem to be one of his stories. You know these characters don't get to live happily ever after. The rules of tragedy, everything about their situations, and clear foreshadowing, tell us something earth-shatteringly horrible is about to happen. Cretton doesn't make us watch that part; he chooses to end the story at a happy point. I appreciate that. This movie's depressing and miserable enough as it is. C

GPA: 2.7/4