Review of Little Thirteen

"Little Thirteen" is (despite the title) a German 95-minute movie from 2012, so it will have its 5th anniversary next year. The language is German as well. I must admit that I am not familiar with director Christian Klandt or writer Catrin Lüth, even if this is probably a contender for the most known work from both. The cast is the same as there aren't really any familiar names in here. The only one I believe I have seen before is Gisa Flake, even if I'd never have remembered her name either. But this also has to do with the two biggest roles being played by child actresses and these are pretty much never known. It is the story of two girls, very sexually promiscuous, and their path to happiness and it is a path full of obstacles of course and all they want is to be loved. Very cliché and cringeworthy story, no doubt about it. They try to justify the children's behavior with depicting some of the men they sleep with as morons and by describing the girls's families as broken and their parents living a similar lifestyle like they do. It is all pretty clumsy and these justifications do not work well at all. A whore is a whore is a whore. Sorry, but that's what it is. Of course, the actresses who play the girls were way older already than their characters, otherwise the nude scenes would not have been possible. This is an area where the film tries to be controversial, but I personally found it rather cringeworthy. This movie attempts to be so so much, but the lack of talent from everybody involved, especially the screen writer, makes it a fairly embarrassing outcome. Four stars out of ten is still pretty generous in my opinion as this film has very little to offer that goes beyond the unsuccessful attempt of making a quality film about coming-of-age, family struggles and exploring one's sexuality and important values. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended at all.