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We could have easily descended into emotional bathos and clichéd “hope and love wins” triumph of spirit stuff in Short Term 12, but we skirt past it. Oh, there’s a few spots where the machinations are in place to edge us towards that, but the remarkable work from an incredibly talented cast keeps it all real. Sometimes too painfully real, but these moments of bruised emotional connection are what make the film so magical and healing.
These kids come from rough spots, and two main facility managers understand their pains all too intimately. The story primarily concerns the lives of several of the kids and the managers, but as the film goes on it hones in on the connection between two of them. There’s Grace (Brie Larson, god she’s just so good), the facility manager with the deep understanding and empathetic connection with these kids, and new arrival Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever), a 14-year-old with a similar background to Grace.
Grace and Jayden take to each other slowly, and the scene where Jayden will eventually reveal the abuse she endures from her father is one that we know is coming, but not the particulars. Where Short Term 12 goes so beautifully right in this scene, as just one example, is how it manages to pack in character exposition and development in a way that feels grounded and real. Jayden doesn’t just verbally vomit up her confession, but presents it to Grace in the form of a fairy tale that’s emotionally devastating for in the ways that it’s both obliquely symbolic and metaphorically terrifying.
There’s several more scenes like this, perhaps no two more emotional cathartic or devastating than those involving Keith Stanfield’s Marcus. In one he sits with Mason (John Gallagher Jr., able to mine his role for laughs and quiet support) and delivers a rap detailing the emotional trauma his mother’s abuse left him with. In the other, Mason and Grace shave his head and Marcus bursts into tears questioning if there’s any visible scars left. You can feel the love and healing, the deep wells of emotional connection between these characters. Stanfield, a first-time actor, not only holds his own against stellar talents like Larson and Gallagher Jr., but he possibly emerges as the most memorable and deeply felt performance. Now that is really saying something.
Short Term 12 is a quiet little wunderkind that hits you hard with its sense of truth and honesty. Not even a moment that feels at odds with everything else around, Grace smashing a lamp of her higher-ups in a “damn the man” torrent of emotion springs to mind, can deter me from loving this film. It’s a great little movie all about the cycles of trauma, pain, healing, and moving on. I rooted for these kids, I’ve been these kids, and this feels incredibly authentic.
