Short Term 12 is now playing in theaters across the country!
Short Term 12 makes me want to be a better person. And I don’t remember the last movie that made me feel that way. There came a certain point in the first act where I started to cry, and after that point I was a sloppy wet mess for the duration. Those who know me well are aware that… I tend to cry in movies. So as a critic, I’ve had to train myself not to equate a film causing me to be emotional with a film being of a certain quality. Ed crying does not a good movie make. But Short Term 12 is that emotional film that earns the tears it draws out of you with a combination of rampant authenticity, endearing characters, and a killer screenplay.
The film is primarily the story of Grace (Brie Larson) and her role as a hands-on worker with the high-school aged students at the titular juvenile detention facility. Grace’s co-worker and romantic partner Mason (John Gallagher, Jr.) also takes a front and center role. Then there are the various kids in the facility. Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever) is an uppity white girl with major home life problems and a history of cutting herself. She is probably the main youth character and her plight drudges up a lot of issues from Grace’s own past that are potent and revealed with perfect pacing in the screenplay. Marcus (Keith Stanfield) is an African American teen who is on the verge of turning 18, when he’ll have to leave the facility and enter the real world. Marcus’ arc sent me into the “ugly cry” zone and I absolutely fell in love with him. His story intertwines with both Grace and Mason in powerful ways as well.
There are other kids in the facility, and other social workers who have just enough screen time to really fill this movie out and make the world feel lived in and real, while the focus of the film sticks pretty squarely with the quartet I’ve mentioned.
In talking about the film out in the real world, I’ve realized that any quick summary of what the film is about sounds like a Hallmark movie and doesn’t do it justice. So I’ll attempt to explain why this film that could easily have fallen into treacly, feel-good fair rises above and becomes a great film.
The key is authenticity. Short Term 12 feels like a lived-in facility. The kids in the facility act and talk like real kids do. And the adults surrounding these students don’t feel like crusaders or idealists, but rather they are like many of the friends I have who work in social work. They are realistic, relational, and they wrestle with the flaws in the system even as they try to work within it. So when hugely emotional and dramatic events do happen in the narrative, they feel earned. It also helps that the screenplay incorporates a “new guy” into the mix played with wonderful naivete by Rami Malek. His character Nate gets the brunt of the awkward moments and sees the error of his idealistic ways through the events of the film and in a way he gets to be the audience’s cypher as we, too, are introduced to this very specific and challenging world of state-funded juvenile care.
Another key to Short Term 12’s greatness is the pacing which I had previously mentioned. We’re thrown right into the world of this facility and asked, as an audience, to pay attention and learn the ropes. There is no narration to orient you. But as things progress, you’ll fall in love with Grace and Mason, as well as each of the kids, and simultaneously have their issues and flaws revealed to you one after another. What exactly happened to Grace and Mason to bring them to their current life path will be revealed with impeccable timing and smart storytelling. By the end you’ll be so invested in the story that you won’t want to leave. As a matter of fact, my peer Malachi Constant here at Cinapse insists that the movie would play significantly better as a television series with the same cast and guided by the same creative team. I agree with him wholeheartedly, although I do believe that the content was wonderful as a feature in it’s own right.
And on a personal note, I connected with the film very passionately due to my own 8 years of experience as a Youth Director for a church youth group. As a program director I set up all sorts of rules to protect my students and to protect my adult leaders. Our program had what I considered to be very healthy boundaries and guidelines to provide a safe environment for students to learn and grow and thrive. Watching Grace and Mason build a relational and safe environment amongst a number of very troubled and potentially dangerous kids affected me deeply. Our kids, regardless of race or socio-economic status, desperately need safe places where they can learn and explore and figure out life. Grace and Mason are heroes to someone like me because they strike that incredible balance of coming alongside teenagers and entering into relationships with them, while maintaining professional boundaries and leadership by example.
But about those boundaries… this is a movie afterall, and you’ve got to have some drama. What I found fascinating as I watched the film was my own personal need to see Grace and Mason stick to the boundaries and remain professional throughout the feature. But as Grace’s own past haunts her more and more deeply as she tries to help Jayden, her ability to not get personal is tested. Short Term 12 makes for great drama in this way, especially if, like me, you are desperate to see the incredible environment that Grace and Mason have built at Short Term 12 remain intact for all the kids that still need to be helped.
I loved Short Term 12 and can’t recommend it highly enough. Different viewers will bring their own stories and passions into the theater with them much like I did. And some may react to the content more strongly than others. But the character work, screenplay, and direction on display here are some of the most confident and exciting I’ve ever seen coming from a first time writer/director (Destin Cretton.) Do yourself a favor and prioritize Short Term 12. It might just make you a better person.
And I’m Out.