Short Term 12

Short Term 12 is one of those movies that make you real grateful for the life you have and people in it who love you as much as you love them. That was so cheesy, but after viewing this movie and seeing how some kids my age are treated and what it can do to them psychologically for years to follow, I don't really know what I'm doing complaining about my grades or college apps. The movie is centered around a rehab-like center for kids who were abused or abandoned. The main character Grace, along with her boyfriend Mason, is the head guidance counselor for these kids. Grace has a bit of a troubled past as well and she's managed to keep it down and in the past until a young girl with problems similar to the ones she's trying to hide checks into the facility. This girl, Jayden, is the typical angsty teen that her heavily lined eyes suggest, but the subtle hints she leaves Grace about her troubled home life causes Grace to sit back and examine her own situation that she's tried to push away for years.
This movie had a very realistic feel to it because of the way that it was shot. Often times the camera wouldn't use a stabilizer, so as the viewer, it was easy to put yourself in the view of the camera, looking back and forth between the characters. The opening scene depicted one of the inpatients bursting out the door and making a sprint for the gates of the facility about 100 feet away across a grass lawn. When Grace and Mason bound after him, the camera adopts a hand-held like motion to follow them and capture the chaos of the moment. The camera also works to do the total opposite in moments of intensity. When Jayden confides to Grace about her abusive father through the shark and octopus story, the camera is very still, which paired with the silence of Grace's shock, intensifies the scene by keeping everything still so the audience can absorb what they've just learned. This technique is used again when it's Grace's turn to confide in Jayden.
The camera also takes advantage of close-ups during serious moments of conversations (which this movie is comprised mostly of). These close-ups help to read the emotion on the character's faces better. Some good moments of this is after Marcus recites his rap about his mom to Mason and the camera is right up in Marcus's face. The watering of his eyes and clenching of his jaw right after he finishes and Mason sits speechless helps the viewer understand how much he just opened up through this rap. My favorite close-up has to be when Mason tells Grace "he's done."

Brie Larson did a phenomenal job at this part rolling her eyes back and really showing on her face the grave impact this had on her.
Both of these cinematic elements added to the realness of the movie. The characters were relatable and it was easy to imagine yourself as the one sitting down having a heart-to-heart with them the way Grace or Mason does. Many indie movies adopt this technique to add to the authenticity of their films. The Virgin Suicides is one that pops into my mind for it's similar camera-work. A film that attempted this use of hand-held camera look but failed was the first Hunger Games. The initial fight scene at the Cornucopia was shot to portray chaos but was to bouncy and ended up giving me a headache.
Short Term 12 is a great film. It has a complexity that keeps you interested but isn't so over-the-top that it's unbelievable. It's a serious film that touches on some pretty serious topics, but still manages to throw in moments of humor and playfulness that keep it authentic.