Thirteen, a disturbing look at rebellious teens, is galvanized by emotional extremes and wrenching performances. But this gritty indie film also presumes a profundity that its edgy shocks and...

Thirteen, a disturbing look at rebellious teens, is galvanized by emotional extremes and wrenching performances. But this gritty indie film also presumes a profundity that its edgy shocks and drama-queen histrionics don't deliver. At heart it's simply a loud wake-up call for a world that should be alert to its premise: Heedless, self-absorbed teens can go horribly bad. Thirteen's troubled heroine is Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood), a promising Los Angeles straight-A student seventh-grader who lives with her brother, Mason (Brady Corbet) and divorced mom, Mel (Holly Hunter). A recovering addict, Mel is a struggling hairdresser who runs her clip joint at home to be close to her kids. Though she showers Tracy with love and concern, she can't cope with her daughter's reckless plunge into adolescence, nor can Mel's gentle on-and-off boyfriend (Jeremy Sisto), an ex-junkie whom Tracy resents. Tormented by such problems as her modest clothes and scorning everyone but herself for human frailties, impetuous Tracy finds giddy liberation in Evie (Nikki Reed/co-writer), a wild classmate known for her brazenly sexual style. The ultimate bad influence, Evie lures Tracy into stealing so the girls can look even more trashy (or, in their view, sophisticated). They also indulge in tattoos, body-piercing, drugs, sexual experiments and, in an almost-unwatchable scene, sadomasochism. It gets worse. Tracy also mutilates herself, hiding in a bathroom to cut her forearms with scissors. This girl needs help, and it goes beyond better parenting skills.