Rent Short Term 12 (2013)
3.8 of 5 from 193 ratings
1h 33min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Brie Larson puts in a star making performance as the passionate and tough Grace, a formidable friend of the kids in her charge, and in love with her long-term boyfriend and co-worker, Mason (John Gallagher Jr.). But Grace's inability to open up emotionally has put a strain on their relationship, and when she crosses paths with a gifted, but troubled teenage girl with whom she has a charged connection, she is forced to confront her own past and to face the surprising future that suddenly presents itself.
- Actors:
- Brie Larson, Frantz Turner, John Gallagher Jr., Stephanie Beatriz, Rami Malek, Alex Calloway, Kevin Hernandez, Lydia Du Veaux, Lakeith Stanfield, Kaitlyn Dever, Diana Maria Riva, Harold Cannon, Silvia Curiel, Melora Walters, Bran'dee Allen, Danny Roper, Elyssa Gutierrez, Garryson Zamora, Michael Marto, Patricia Barrett
- Directors:
- Destin Daniel Cretton
- Producers:
- Asher Goldstein, Joshua Astrachan, Ron Najor, Maren Olson
- Writers:
- Destin Daniel Cretton
- Studio:
- Verve Pictures
- Genres:
- Drama
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 10/03/2014
- Run Time:
- 93 minutes
- Languages:
- English Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles:
- None
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
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Reviews (1) of Short Term 12
Grace Under Pressure - Short Term 12 review by griggs
Some films about damaged young people arrive wearing steel-capped misery boots. Short Term 12 is gentler than that, though no less bruising. It understands that working in care is not one grand healing montage, but a daily shift of near-misses, bad jokes, small victories, and emotional triage.
I believed these characters immediately. They don’t feel like people cooked up for a script, but real people you might find in a group home like this: guarded, funny, furious, tender, and occasionally one bad sentence away from falling apart.
Lakeith Stanfield and Kaitlyn Dever are superb, both finding huge feeling without pushing for it. Brie Larson is even better. She gives Grace the brittle competence of someone brilliant at helping others and dangerously under-qualified to help herself.
The comedy matters too. When it arrives, it doesn’t undercut the pain; it lets everyone breathe. You realise laughter here isn’t relief from the job. It’s part of the job. A coping mechanism with a punchline and a pulse.
Tender, bruised, and properly lived-in.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Critic review
Short Term 12 review by George Hooper - Cinema Paradiso
Every year there is at least one film that brings new eyes to a previously taboo topic of discussion for films. This year its Short Term 12 as it looks at the real effects of child abuse and abandonment and the result is one of the best independent films of the year.
The film follows the staff of Short Term 12, including Grace (Brie Larson). Short Term 12 is a short term care facility for children with nowhere else to go while social services sorts out their more permanent living situation. When Grace discovers she is pregnant she begins to relive her past trauma’s as her boyfriend and fellow care worker Mason (John Gallagher Jr) tries to get through to her as she tries to keep her life from interfering with her helping the kids she is in charge of.
The beauty of Short Term 12 isn’t the beautifully written and realistic dialogue. It isn’t even the wonderful performances from Larson, Gallagher Jr and Kaitlyn Dever as Jayden, a defensive yet vibrant new addition to the building. It’s the films ability to take seemingly clichéd ideas and breathe new life into them. When the oldest member of the group Marcus (Keith Stanfield) wallows in self pity as kids cannot stay once they turn 18, writer/director Destin Cretton speaks his fears through a rap song, an inventive and utterly spellbinding piece of music and lyrics that will change even the most cynical person’s view of the art form.
Deeply shocking and personal, Cretton weaves individual stories into a grand tale of children and adults facing a crucible as they try to reach the next stage in their lives, a place where they can put the past behind them. As Jayden and Marcus reach the threshold of this change it forces Grace to face her own past, a tale many of the people at Short Term 12 know but one she is still afraid of.
Larson is unbelievably good and worthy of the awards buzz she has been receiving but the real highlight is Dever who devotes everything to her performance as the broken Jayden, a character you have seen before but never like this, never this real.