A Troubled Brie Larson Takes Care Of Troubled Teens In SHORT TERM 12

SHORT TERM 12 (Dir. Destin Daniel Cretton, 2013)

Brie Larson isn’t a household name yet, but she’s getting closer bit by bit with roles in recent buzzed about films like THE SPECTACULAR NOW and DON JON, in which she plays Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s always texting sister.

Larson’s strong work in Destin Daniel Cretton’s feature length debut as writer/director, SHORT TERM 12, based on his 2008 short film of the same name, definitely deserves recognition as a breakthrough performance on the scale of Elizabeth Olsen’s performance in MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE and Jennifer Lawrence in WINTER’S BONE.

Larson plays Grace, a supervisor at the foster-care facility for at-risk teenagers of the title, who’s in a serious relationship with her co-worker Mason (The Newsroom’s John Gallagher Jr.), but can’t bring herself to open up to him about her troubled history, especially now that she finds out that she’s pregnant.

Between having to chase down runaways, the couple deal with the arrival of Kaitlyn Dever as a jaded 15-year old girl (aptly named Jayden) whose bad attitude is justified by what he learn about her abusive father, and the upcoming departure of Keith Stanfield (the only cast member reprising his role from the short) as a long term resident, and aspiring rapper who’s about to turn 18.

The intimate nature of the acting aided by straight forward thoughtful tone of Cretton’s screenplay drew me into this slice of these people’s lives in that “oh, I’ve known people just like these” kind of way. At various times throughout my younger years, I had both been somebody who was scared of opening up to others, and somebody who was desperately trying to get somebody else to open up. I was genuinely feeling Larson working both ends of this - we see without any heavy handiness that she’s great at her job, but lousy at life.

Dever’s situation affects Larson deeply, both having been labeled “cutters,” and they have a standout scene where they bond over bashing in the windows of Dever’s father’s car with a baseball bat.

Meanwhile Gallagher attempts some closeness with Stanfield before he leaves. Their bond comes in the form of Gallagher plays bongos to Stanfield’s rapping of some original, and very personal, lyrics he jotted in a notebook, the sentiment of which should be appreciated by even non-hip hop fans.

There are a few threads that are tied up a little too neatly – the film is best when it’s about how messy life can be – and the shaky cam may get a bit too shaky, but the overall picture Cretton paints is one of low budget beauty.

Despite winning awards at SXSW, and various other film festivals this year, SHORT TERM 12 has been pretty poorly attended at my local art house theater, the Colony in Raleigh, N.C., where it’s only playing for one week. That’s a shame, because it’s a well worth seeking out indie with what should be a star-making turn by an actress that if you don’t know now, you surely will soon.

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Directorial Debut Deals With The Porn Addicted DON JON

Opening today at most multiplexes:



DON JON (Dir. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 2013) 

Things have been going good in movieland for Joseph Gordon-Levitt the last several years. Since his breakthrough role in Marc Webb's (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, he's put in solid performances in a stretch of A-list work including being part of high-profile ensembles in Christopher Nolan (INCEPTION, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES), and Steven Spielberg (LINCOLN) films, as well as heading choice action thrillers such as David Koepp's PREMIUM RUSH and LOOPER. Not to forget his touching and funny turn in 50/50. Yup, pretty good indeed.



The ultra-talented 32-year old's winning streak continues with his debut as writer/director: DON JON, about a womanizing New Jersey boy who prefers porn to real sex as we learn by getting the inside beat on his daily routines.



Yup, that's the subject matter Gordon-Levitt chose, but he handles it in an often hilarious and oddly touching manner. It's a comic yet thoughtful examination of an addicted everyman, that most people should relate to, that is, if they're not a prude about porn.



Gordon-Levitt's narration breaks down his character's life from Sunday confessions to family dinners to gym workouts to hitting on women at the bar most weeknights. Being a slick good lookin' guy, he scores often with girls he brags about being high on the 1-10 scale, but at the end of the night, after his newest conquest is passed out in bed, he's back on his computer.



This changes when he meets Scarlet Johansson at a club, who he definitely considers a "10," but she's not as easy as the girls he regularly takes home.



She makes him wait for it; work for it - through weeks of dates seeing movies he couldn't care less about - there's a funny fictitious chick flick they go to see featuring Channing Tatum and Anne Hathaway going through the predictable rom com storybeats. It reminded me of the fake film in the Coen Brother's BURN AFTER READING, "Coming Up Daisy," with Delmot Mulroney and Claire Danes that Frances McDormand would drag her dates to, but I digress.



Things get edgy when Johansson (with an accent that reminds me of a commercial parody she did on SNL several years ago where she was a Long Island pitch-woman hawking "Marble Columns") catches Gordon-Levitt watching porn, and makes him swear he'll never do it again.



This forces him to catch it when he can on the go on his phone in the car or in night class, a classmate, Julianne Moore, also catches him ("Excuse me, are you watching people fucking on your phone?") but she's so not as judgemental.



Some of the funniest scenes are set around the dinner table with the great casting of Tony Danza and Glenne Headly as Jon's parents (Don is an obvious nickname), and Brie Larson (recently seen in THE SPECTACULAR NOW) as his always texting sister. Though not as one-liner heavy, there's Neil Simon-esque sensibility present.



With her face forever in her phone, Larson is as quiet as Silent Bob throughout the film, but just like that Kevin Smith character, when she speaks it's something that's supposed to be a necessary insight.



The widowed pot-smoking Moore, who obviously has a lot more mileage in the sex/relationship department serves as sort of a Yoda to Gordon-Levitt, helping guide him to a better, less XXX-rated fantasy-filled, level of existence.



Gordon-Levitt's direction is as confident as his character - he gets flawless acting out of his co-stars (Danza is particularly "on"), there are few wasted shots (though some shaky framing), and a pleasing fluidity to the narrative that you know he cribbed from working with Nolan and Johnson (I'm sure Spielberg and rubbed off on him too).



DON JON is no mind-blowing masterpiece, but it's a Hell of a writing/directing debut for Gordon-Levitt. I laughed a lot, and enjoyed spending time his characters. Its takes cojones to make one's first film about a smut addicted chronic masturbator, but it takes something more to be able to make the guy, via such strong charm and wit, somebody we care about seeing find his footing, away from the clutches of internet porn.



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