Short Term 12!!!!

Short Term 12.

When you read what Short Term 12 is about you know from the start you will be in for an emotional rollercoaster, playing with your emotions you go up and down throughout the film. Set in a temporary foster home for troubled teens, Grace (Brie Larson) and her boyfriend Mason (John Gallagher Jr) are care workers who provide a safe place for the teens to live. With a new volunteer just starting Nate (Rami Malek) you see how the house all work, live and play together and are in a way a little dysfunctional family of their own.

As one of the teens Marcus (Keith Stanfield) is about to turn 18 you see the emotions that he goes through on screen, rapping about his past and asking for his head to be shaved you assume he is strong and secure with his new to be freedom. Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever) is a self harming girl who respects no-one and does whatever she wants, constantly drawing she talks to no-one about her problems.

Grace and Mason work with the teens at the home and try to make the place as happy a place as possible. Grace in particular starts to relate to Jayden and soon enough she starts to get her to open up about her past and what had happened to her and why she is always angry all the time. This relationship in turn starts to play on Grace's mind and soon enough Grace must face up to her own problems head on and deal with her own past in order to move forward.

 Two scenes that standout in my mind are one with Marcus when he is having his head shaved and the other with Jayden explaining her short octopus story. Marcus's scene shows him having his head shaved before he leaves and you think to yourself  "new start, new haircut". After his head is shaved Marcus says "is it lumpy...can you see any scars" then it hits you and you realise what he has been through, slowly raising his head you see him smile and you smile back with pride at his bright new happy future with is new haircut.

The scene with Jayden really hits you hard, sat on the floor with Grace she tells the story of her Octopus drawings of how it would sacrifice a leg to feed it's shark friend. The emotion in that scene and how you just know Grace relates to her situation and the sadness you feel for Jayden is truly overpowering.

It has to be said Brie Larson is perfect and portrays Grace with such ease, to be able to bring out a strong character that is deep down wounded herself is impressive. Keith Stanfield as Marcus and Kaitlyn Dever as Jayden are both impressive, bringing out two emotionally fuelled teens both in different circumstances they really make you feel for the characters. The use of showing how characters express their feelings is so simple yet so clever, Marcus rapping to let people know what he's thinking and Jayden drawing what she feels is a great thing to touch upon. As many children in abusive situations never want to talk but communicate in different ways so to use rap and art was a great choice.

For what is such a short film Destin Cretton has made an emotional film that will have you close to tears one minute and in another have you smiling and laughing again.

10/10.