Short Term 12
Tags: storytelling

Plot synopsis:
Grace is the young supervisor of Short Term 12, a group home for troubled teenagers. She lives with her long-term boyfriend and coworker, Mason, but finds it difficult to open up to him emotionally. When Grace finds out she is pregnant, she schedules an appointment for an abortion; she eventually tells an overjoyed Mason about the pregnancy, but not about her plan to have an abortion. At the facility, Grace and Mason focus their efforts on Marcus, a Short Term 12 resident who is about to turn 18 and is struggling with the prospect of leaving the facility.
Grace bonds with Jayden, a recent arrival at Short Term 12 who has a history of self-harm. Jayden distances herself from the other teenagers as she does not intend to stay at the facility for long, and when her father fails to pick her up on her birthday, she reacts violently towards the staff. After her outburst, she sits in the "cool-down room" with Grace, who shows Jayden her own scars from cutting herself. That night, Jayden leaves the facility in the middle of her birthday celebrations and, unable to force her to return, Grace follows Jayden to her father's house. After finding the house empty, they return to Short Term 12. When Jayden reads Grace a cryptic story she has written, Grace begins to suspect that Jayden was abused by her father.
At a party hosted by Mason's foster parents, he proposes to Grace, who accepts. The following morning, Grace is upset by a phone call that reveals her father is being released from prison, and refuses to be consoled by Mason. She arrives at Short Term 12 to discover that Jayden has been picked up by her father overnight. She is angry at the decision to send Jayden back to her father, but her boss maintains that Jayden denied that she was abused by him. Later that day, Grace finds that Marcus has attempted to commit suicide after the death of his fish.
While waiting at the hospital as Marcus is being treated, Grace breaks down and Mason becomes upset with her for refusing to talk to him about how she feels; instead, she tells him that she no longer wants to marry him and that she plans to have an abortion. Upset, she returns to Jayden's father's house and breaks in, intending to injure him while he sleeps, but she is interrupted by Jayden, who suggests that they smash his car instead. Grace opens up to Jayden about being sexually abused by her own father, and after Jayden shows Grace bruises from where her father hit her they return together to Short Term 12, where Jayden reports her father for physical abuse. Grace goes home to apologize to Mason, who tells her that Marcus will recover.
Several weeks later, Grace starts seeing a therapist and she is shown viewing an ultrasound with Mason. Mason tells the rest of the staff about running into Marcus, who is doing well and has a girlfriend.

Review: "You are not their friend, and you are not their therapist," Jack (Frantz Turner) to Grace (Brie Larson)You can be forgiven if you think Short Term 12 is a documentary, so close it seems to the reality of a foster-care facility, so natural its acting in almost every character.
If you see any films this month, makes sure this is one of themFirst time helmer Destin Cretton, with two years' experience in a similar care-giving facility (The title refers to the 12 or so group homes for teens in the county), has masterfully relayed the love and sorrow inherent in a place where virtually everyone is displaced from a parent, or abused, even the staff.The story belongs to Grace (Brie Larson), a caring giver who influences for good many of her charges, not easy cases any one of them.
Werner Erhard defines true heroism as "the kind which ends up in the truth, in what works, in what is honest and real being brought out and made available to others." This kind of authenticity is front and center in Destin Cretton's Short Term 12, the story of troubled teens living in a short-term group home who are the recipients of empathy from counselors only a few years older who may have faced similar situations in their life.Winner of the audience award at the L.A. Film Festival and South by Southwest as well as the narrative feature prize, it is funny and sad with a wide range of emotions in-between.
Grace (Brie Larson) is the staff supervisor at the home known only as Short Term 12, a designation reflecting the fact that the residents are supposed to be there for no more than a year, although many have been there longer.
Marcus, who is going to be discharged when he reaches 18, ready or not, elicits a stumbling apology from Nate who realizes his mistake.Grace's boyfriend, Mason (John Gallagher), begins the film with a story about an embarrassing incident with a young runaway.
Expecting her father to take her home soon, she is surly and uncommunicative and is only able to communicate with Grace by means of a heartbreaking children's story she wrote about a shark and an octopus, a story with a hidden meaning that that Grace pick ups on.Marcus, in another moving scene, sings a deeply felt rap song he created for Mason about "a life not knowing what a normal life's like." Although the children play a huge role in the film, the main focus is on Grace and how her work affects her life.
She knows that Mason loves her and would be a good father but she has seen neglectful parents or worse in her own life and at the home and her built-up anger expresses itself in a memorable scene.Short Term 12 could have become another film that sets out to inspire us through contrivance and manipulation.
It's not often that a film like this would start its story with a relatively optimistic relationship as that dials down the potential for conflict, but John Gallagher Jr. and his chemistry with Larson makes it one we love watching and dread that moment where it inevitably goes wrong.
All are young stars on the rise and I hope this film helps progress their careers in the right direction, because they all deserve it.The film tells the story of Grace (Larson) and her coworkers as they work at a dysfunctional foster care facility.
Incredibly natural in its approach, wonderfully balanced from start to finish & further solidified by a convincing ensemble performances, Short Term 12 tells the story of Grace, a very caring & capable supervisor at a foster-care facility for at-risk teenagers.
There are three story lines that emerge from this film; one is about Marcus, a quiet kid who's about to turn eighteen but doesn't want to leave the facility, the second plot line is about Jayden, a troubled teenage girl who's the latest member of the club.
And the final & main plot line is about Grace herself, whose past returns to haunt her after meeting Jayden with whom she shares a connection plus the unexpected surprise she discovers that can have a major impact on her future, thus leaving her utterly confused with everything about her life.The entire cast has given a brilliant performance, but it's Brie Larson who impresses the most as Grace and the film manages to portray her toughness & fragility evocatively.
"You need to get ready because it's so unbelievable it's going to seem fake, but I promise you it's not, Grace will vouch for me...It's a storytellers wet dream."Every once in a while a surprising film like Short Term 12 comes around reminding me why I love cinema so much.
In a way I kind of felt like Nate, the new counselor in this film who didn't connect right away with the kids and there was not much he could do to help considering he had no idea where they were coming from.
Short Term 12 writer and director, Destin Cretton, uses this film as a vehicle to let the viewer have a better understanding of the social situation these kids go through.
Even the kids in this film were terrific and that's why I'm giving this film the highest possible grade because it does everything right.Grace (Brie Larson) is one of the young counselors at Short Term 12, a foster care facility for at risk teenagers.
Grace and Mason are both excellent counselors, mostly because they have come from a troubled past themselves, and despite helping these kids they also have to deal with their own scars in life if they want their relationship to work.
Larson is a major reason why this film worked so well, her character Grace is just that: a graceful person who is doing her best to help these kids while at the same time trying to deal with her own demons.
Dever and Stanfield also deliver powerful secondary performances and each one of them shares a memorable scene with one of their counselors as they try to express their feelings through different ways: Marcus does so by rapping and Jayden by reading a story.
Credit goes to Mr. Cretton's quasi-documentary directorial style, tremendous acting from support characters played by John Gallagher Jr (Mason), Kaitlyn Dever (Jayden), and Keith Stanfield (Marcus), and a stunning lead performance from rising star Brie Larson (Grace).Grace and Mason help run a foster care facility.
It certainly has dark moments of personal struggle, dealing in mental health, domestic abuse, self harm and suicide but the standard of acting and ending of the movie most definitely leave you feeling positive.What stands out most about this film however is the cast.
Just because you play unoffensive modern folk music over the top of long, slightly shifting, pseudo-humbling camera shots doesn't automatically mean you've made the American indie film of the year.It's a boring screenplay about an unrealistic public health center for unrealistic archetypal children with 'family issues' headed by generic heroine Brie Larson who attempts to balance her cliché life in a quest to find meaning.
So Short Term 12 is I would say one terrific film, it's not flawless but it got all the right stuff done how it should be; from acting: I'm looking at you Brie Larson, would say Oscar worthy performance, but she did even better then that.
A sparkling and amazing tale about real people suffering real (or imagined) problems and living with them or dealing with them in the real world.Wonderful writing, great acting and superb casting make this film almost like a documentary and I watch the Oscars and I scratch my head and think: what the hell were they watching?
Much-lauded on its original release by critics and viewers alike, SHORT TERM 12 is a powerful drama set in a foster home, where twentysomething carer Grace (Brie Larson), and her fellow-workers Mason (John Gallagher Jr) and Nate (Rami Melek) spend their lives looking after disturbed or abused teenagers, including Marcus (Keith Stanfield), Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever), and Sammy (Alex Calloway).
Unfortunately for Sundance, this is one feature film that compliments some of its illustrious winners, specifically my top film of 2013 Fruitvale Station, in admirable fashion.The real heart and soul of the film is Brie Larson who plays Grace, supervisor to the fragile youth inhabiting short term 12.
Throughout Grace's journey of healing, Cretton shows how life is filled with interchanging teacher/pupil roles and how regardless of age, we learn from one another.Larson is destined to become a force worth reckoning with thanks to her portrayal in Short Term 12.
Not every year we find a film like this, "Short Term 12" is a rare independent drama that successfully exploits brilliant premise and limited production material into a powerful cinematic experience.
Especially for Brie Larson, she easily drags audiences attention with her performance as Grace, a kind-hearted woman who dedicated her life to help dangerous behavior kids though herself still struggles with her horrible and complex memory in the past.
Grace and Mason chemistry was one of the strongest points of the film, because the way that they solved their problems together gives a touch of romance that gives power to the story ("It's because you are the weirdest, most beautiful person that I've ever met in my whole entire life.").
The film does feature other fine performances, namely John Gallagher Jr. as Mason, but no one comes close to Brie's fierce performance.Overall, Short Term 12 is an excellent film and a criminally underseen movie.
These moments in the film showcase Cretton as a talent to watch just like the films leading lady Brie Larson.Small films like Short Term 12 have been a breeding ground for break out performances for years now, with those looking to break into a tough industry choosing tough roles to show off their wares.
Brie Larson here in her role as conflicted and inwardly troubled worker Grace stamps herself as an actress capable of both pure heartrending emotion and an equal talent at comedic timing and lovable charm, no doubt a few tricks were learned from her time in praised TV show The United States of Tara and supporting roles in films such as 21 Jump Street and Don Jon. It's a pleasure to see an actress grow before your eyes as Larson does and she is ably supported by an impressive adult cast and a cast of young adults that are led by Justified's impressive young actress Kaitlyn Dever.Short Term 12 is as stated a small film that deals with big issues and deals with them in a way that is both confronting yet in a manner that seems just right.
At the core of the film, Short Term 12 is a story about Grace (Brie Larson), a supervisor at a short-term foster care facility.
John Gallagher and Kaitlyn Dever also have great performances as Mason, Grace's boyfriend and co- worker, and Jayden, a young girl living at Short Term 12 who Grace sees a lot of herself in.Destin Cretton, the writer and director, does a great job of developing these characters, as each scene gives the audience insight into who these people are and why they act the way they do.
While some of the criticism of presenting problem's through children's stories is valid, I'm going to withhold too much judgment because it allows us to see these kids as actual people, instead of files and descriptions.Overall, this is a good movie worth seeing just for Brie Larson's acting alone.
Nothing in this movie is new, a group of people that interact in a foster care house, everyone with their own traumas, you can find all of them treated in other movies, and people with problems that take care of people with same or other problems.But it's the way all together is mixed that makes this movie so great, everything is so real, you can feel the emotions, but no one overact to force them.The film do no rely on easy tears, although it has some dramatic moments, but there is always hope and a subtle sense of humor.Really great film, I recommend it, for my one of the best of the year..
"Short Term 12" stars Brie Larson as Grace a twenty-something counselor who is in charge of fellow staff and a few emotionally-damaged kids.Grace is in a relationship with fellow counselor, and former foster child, Mason (John Gallagher Jr).
Short Term 12 is a story about neglected youths who live in a foster home for teenagers.Brie Larson plays Grace.
She is dedicated to helping these teenage kids but her relationship with her boyfriend and co-worker Mason (John Gallagher Jr) lacks the care she shows to the kids and he knows it especially when Grace discovers she is pregnant.The arrival of a new girl to the facility Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever) a troubled girl unravels Grace's own issues and upbringing, her father is in jail and it seems both have overlapping experiences.This is a small independent film and shows early promise from future Oscar winning actress Brie Larson.
It also features Rami Malek as a new counsellor.Director Destin Cretton worked in such a care home and initially developed his experiences in a short movie which this is based on.
But instead, the film unfolds delicately and organically, never playing up the drama or belittling its characters or ingratiating the audience; director Destin Cretton has crafted a marvelously intimate and observant masterpiece that reaffirms what a powerfully emotional and cathartic medium cinema can be when filmmakers eschew cheap tricks in favor of intelligent, realistic and heartfelt storytelling.First-day employee Nate (Rami Malek) is our window into the isolated, fascinating world of Short Term 12, a home where at-risk adolescents can stay for up to a year - though some, like soon to be released Marcus (Keith Stanfield), have been there much longer.
and the performance Brie Larson did in this movie is Fantastic it really brought her character (Grace) to life.
On an overall scale, Short Term 12 is one of those dramas that are heartwarming & heartbreaking at the same time that will have you go through every emotion you're capable of and dares to deal with issues most people or families aren't very comfortable viewing or discussing about.
It's precisely why Destin Cretton's smart, gritty film occasionally feels like a minor miracle, one so truthfully played that it manages to be painfully gloomy and unexpectedly uplifting at the same time.Grace (a wonderful Brie Larson) works at a foster-care facility that takes in troubled, frequently transient children without homes of their own (hence the title of the film: few kids wind up staying longer than twelve months).
As a result, she pulls away from Mason (John Gallagher Jr.), her perhaps- boyfriend and colleague in the facility.Where Short Term 12 really works is in its careful, skilled development of its characters.
I was pleasantly surprised that, although the film does essentially do these things, it does them in a way that works – that doesn't feel mawkish or exploitative towards the viewer.Set in short term housing for older "disadvantaged" children, we focus on a couple of the staff and a couple of the children as the main points for narrative, while at the same time life goes on with everyone else.
Stanfield and Dever are very strong in their teenage roles, working with small touches and selling the larger moments of acting out.Short Term 12 is not without its fault and I will not pretend that it is without its own type of sentimentality at times (the ending I think was a bit of an easy way to bow out) but generally it is delicately crafted to engage, convince and move.
96 minutes of pure cinematic pleasure.The films focus centres on the lives of the staff and residents of a short term care facility for abused and disturbed young people.
In the hands of a lesser writer/director this could have been a stodgy, depressing, cliché-ridden mess however Destin Cretton has created a wonderfully fresh, honest, heart breaking & funny gem of a movie.The entire cast are flawless but special mentions must go to Brie Larson (sensational), Peter Gallagher Jr, Lakeith Lee Stanford and Kaitlyn Dever.Short Term 12 deserves much wider recognition simply because it's a rare thing...
In "Short Term 12," Brie Larson gives a breakout performance as Grace, a young woman who supervises a temporary housing clinic for troubled youth.
Grace, who herself is trying to recover from a troubled, abusive past, finds her emotions overwhelming her when the clinic takes in a teenage girl whose life circumstances are scarily similar to her own.The film has an authentic vibe to it that helps it avoid many of the pitfalls that would have plagued it had it been more of a Hollywood version of the same story.
But the performances are so good, and the film itself so assured, that it's not hard to overlook any nitpicky flaws.The film is bookended by scenes of John Gallagher's character telling stories about some of the kids who have lived at the clinic, and they are little masterpieces of naturalistic acting, perfectly capturing both the challenges and rewards inherent in devoting one's life to the kind of work the main characters devote themselves to in the movie.Grade: A.
2013 Movie Review - Short Term 12 #2013movies #movieReview #DVDreleases #newdvdandblurayreleases This is a story of a foster care facility and particularly a new arrival girl, Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever), and two of the supervisors, Grace (Brie Larson) and Mason (John Gallagher Jr.).
This film has it all.Grace (Brie Larson) is a serious young woman in her 20's, a supervisor at a foster-care facility for at-risk teenagers.
'SHORT TERM 12': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five) Critically acclaimed indie drama film about a foster-care facility for troubled youths and the people who run it.