Short Term 12

Film (2013)

With Brie Larson (Grace), John Gallagher Jr. (Mason), Kaitlyn Dever (Jayden)

This small but potent drama starts with a humorous anecdote told among a group of caregivers who work at a facility for extremely troubled and sometimes violent youths. The guy who tells it, Mason (played nobly and affectingly by John Gallagher Jr.), describes his own vulnerability in a dangerous situation and how by publicly embarrassing himself with severe intestinal distress in a dangerous part of town he amuses and defuses a kid who had been threatening him. The story sets the tone for this thoughtfully conceived small film which demonstrates how strong but humble guidance greatly aids children in extreme need.

The daily tale of this shelter, its clients, and the young workers who tend them, gives shape to this fictionalized, but vividly told, piece. We follow the destinies of several of the kids in the shelter, getting a strong sense of the dramatic symptoms of their troubles, and some sense of the genesis of them. The history of the caregivers, notably Grace (Brie Larson) and Mason, gradually gets revealed, demonstrating the personal motivations and vulnerabilities in the backgrounds of those who compassionately seek to tend those in desperate need.

The acting, both by Larson and Gallagher, and by all the profiled children, is raw and expressive without being at all forced. Larson gives authentic vulnerability to her role while remaining admirably self-possessed, not an easy balance, and she does this while believably carrying a romantic lead. As one of the children who is balancing self-possession and vulnerability on her own terms, Kaitlyn Dever (Jayden) gives a particularly strong and subtle performance.

The tale is told effectively, with a sense of the diversity of victims this sort of place brings in and the explosiveness of their outbursts. The story of the caregivers is equally compelling, as we watch Grace and Mason navigate their time together.

A romantic frame encircles the litany of tragic stories so that the rawness that permeates this drama does not overtake the general contour of the narrative. This makes the whole seem sweet despite its bitter tastes, perhaps a bit less real than it might have been, but affecting nonetheless.

Having some sense of places like this – and, thankfully, they do exist – where enlightened staff nonviolently and sympathetically help to comfort, subdue and support out of control youth – is worth the trip which this simply, but authoritatively done, film navigates for us.

– BADMan