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Home Entertainment: ’13 Minutes’ DVD review

Thora Birch, Amy Smart, Anne Heche, and Peter Facinelli all star in this week’s new DVD release, tornado drama 13 Minutes. Set in the town of Minninnewah, 13 Minutes follows a cross section of the populace before, during, and after a devastating storm rips through the place.  

There’s a strong vein of “movie of the week” within the DNA of 13 Minutes, it’s packed full of kitchen sink drama and has plenty of cliched moments and smaltz. The cast of characters includes the closeted son of a Christian farmer, a newly pregnant teenager, an immigrant couple trying to get their feet on the property ladder, and a high profile family with a daughter with hearing impairments. Any one of these would make a great entry point into this type of Sunday afternoon disaster drama, though none would have the steam to keep an audience engaged for the full run. The choice to mix all of these personalities together and create an entirely ensemble narrative is a clever one. 

Having so many characters to focus on doesn’t cloud the story too much as the film only delves into the headlines of everyone’s life. By steering clear of fleshing any one story out in great detail, 13 Minutes maintains a lightness that helps make it an easy watch. The lack of complexity would typically be frustrating, but here the simplicity encourages the focus to turn to the upcoming storm, and who will survive. 

The thirteen minutes stated in the title refer to the time during which the storm actually takes place. Thirteen minutes out of a one hundred and eight minute duration is anaemic when compared to other disaster-laden stories, but the storm here purposely takes a backseat. This movie is much more concerned with following the townsfolk and their lives, however superficial this coverage is. It doesn’t overcomplicate or sensationalise the storm, presenting a more balanced approach than audiences are accustomed to. Much of the first hour is spent building up to the event, with the remaining time afterward dealing with the destruction created. For some, the lack of focus on the storm will seem strange, but director Lindsay Gossling allows the impact of these fleeting moments to speak for themselves. There’s a viciousness to the storm that isn’t diluted by the usual extensive coverage seen in the film, although its limited budget means that much of this is told through unrelenting sound.

Whilst the stories contained inside 13 Minutes might scream drama movie of the week, the cast of familiar names help to draw in fans. Thora Birch and Amy Smart were both staples of the nineties and noughties and it’s interesting to see them shift from their former roles as children and teenagers to now playing mothers. The inclusion of Peter Facinelli, Anne Heche, and Paz Vega casts the audience net even wider, and anyone encouraged to give 13 Minutes a watch based off of a cast member or two will be rewarded with a cliched, but watchable story of survival with a heavy helping of kitchen sink drama.

13 Minutes

Kat Hughes

13 Minutes

Summary

There may be a heavy undercurrent of made-for-TV / movie of the week about the whole production, but 13 Minutes is stronger than most of them. Uncomplicated and undemanding, 13 Minutes is a fine way to while away an afternoon.

3

Signature Entertainment presents 13 Minutes on DVD 17th January.

Kat Hughes is a UK born film critic and interviewer who has a passion for horror films. An editor for THN, Kat is also a Rotten Tomatoes Approved Critic. She has bylines with Ghouls Magazine, Arrow Video, Film Stories, Certified Forgotten and FILMHOUNDS and has had essays published in home entertainment releases by Vinegar Syndrome and Second Sight. When not writing about horror, Kat hosts micro podcast Movies with Mummy along with her five-year-old daughter.

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