Short Term 12 is a powerful and moving drama that leaves you with warm feelings on conclusion. It depicts the personal struggles of a group of teenagers in supported care and their carers.
Dramas of this sort can sometimes leave you feeling gloomy and have a depressing feel. 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. There are several strong performances even from the supporting cast with minor screen time.
Brie Larson in the lead role excels. A breakout performance in a slow moving drama. One particular scene that comes to mind is the scene with Frantz Turner playing Jack. The outburst is a culmination of her protecting Jayden (played very well by Kaitlyn Dever) who she has begun to understand
and create a close bond with, along with her own personal life frustrations. It is Jayden and not her boyfriend, despite his attempts, who allow Grace to open
up and deal with her own personal struggles and her past.
John Gallagher Jnr, who I had not seen much of prior to this movie also puts in an understated performance as the caring and supporting boyfriend and provides a few moments of comedic relief throughout the drama. I should also mention his scene at his foster family birthday celebration. The scene is only short but the emotion he displays in saying thank you to his foster parents was powerful.
This is also one of the early roles for Rami Malek, who has now gone on like Brie to much more significant roles. He doesn't have much screen time
in this and no particular scenes of note.
Other than Brie however I believe Lakeith Stanfield as Marcus puts in the best performance. His backstory doesn't get as much time as Jayden and it is
less central to the plot of the film which is mainly the Grace/Jayden/Mason arc, but all of his scenes are very strong and he is very believable.
