One, two, three, go...

Before I'd acquired a vast library of DVD delights, this was my most coveted cinematic treat and my obsession for this film was well and truly rooted. Everyone quantifies their coming of age differently; first kisses, jobs, prom nights, moving out, teenage years... for me, I knew I'd truly grown up with my first pair of Marigold gloves. Glamourous, I know. But if any film is going to capture all the triumphs and traumas and the hormones in between, it's Thirteen. Raw, edgy and unashamedly honest, Thirteen documents the life of Tracey, who wants so desperately to be in with the cool girl that she taints all that has gone before and leaves her relationship with her mother in tatters.
Don't let the title fool you; the film runs with an 18 certificate and contains images not for the faint hearted (I don't want to spoil too much, but sex, drugs and self harm are just a taster). It was released in 2003, when I coincidentally would have been 13, but I didn't see it until a few years after that. The imagery still haunts me, and the dwindling saturation of the imagery throughout the film is stunning. Go. See. It. Now.