Ten years after its theatrical release, Short Term 12 remains nothing short of a masterpiece.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 28, 2023

A movie that doesn’t lose itself in the typical Hollywood contrivances and forced melodrama...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 25, 2022

It's a perfect example of the raw emotion and attention to detail that make Short Term 12 such a moving, unforgettable experience.

| Feb 24, 2021

It's a quietly moving drama, so brilliantly written and performed.

| Oct 8, 2020

The film always searches for truth in its sincerest form - it never drifts towards melodrama.

| Original Score: A- | Jul 23, 2020

There's a tendency for movies like Short Term 12 to be overwrought or contrived in their handling of such a sensitive story. However, Cretton avoids the pitfalls of the genre by balancing out the story with an intense and masterfully deployed empathy.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jun 5, 2020

The questions arise in an impeccable narration, with certain addictions of indie cinema, but with agility and freshness. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Mar 24, 2020

One of my "Must See" LAFF films, Short Term 12 is moving, motivational, hopeful, inspiring.

| Nov 27, 2019

Short Term 12 races by with its brief running time, but its ambling plot works to reveal a naturalistic discovery of its characters.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 20, 2019

Impeccably performed by the whole cast, Short Term 12 is an exhausting ride through every emotion possible.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 7, 2019

Short Term 12 lives and breathes true reality onto the movie screen better than most documentaries can.

| Original Score: 8.7/10 | Apr 15, 2019

This look at the staff and clients at a foster care facility compels with its naturalistic approach and delivers believable scenarios and dialogue, while showcasing its young stars.

| Apr 1, 2019

Short Term 12 gets right for much of the film, what so many other films about human services get wrong.

| Mar 13, 2019

A funny, beautiful and wonderfully honest film built around an exceptional turn from Larson.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 6, 2019

I'm attracted to films that feel REAL, and Short Term 12 definitely definitely does. In no small part to the acting - the kids in this are nothing less than fantastic.

| Mar 2, 2019

Has the viewer well and truly captured in its lonely, wretched basis.

| Feb 28, 2019

That sputtering noise you hear in the nobly intentioned, intermittently moving Short Term 12 is the sound of feminism backfiring as it meets screenplay formulas.

| Oct 22, 2018

... a rare, unmissable gem; yes, it's a showcase for its stunning performers and necessary story, but it also pushes us to look at our own emotions, experiences, and relationships in the process ...

| Jan 31, 2018

This feel-everything drama is one of those honest and intimate scripts that come out of nowhere to say something incredibly meaningful and memorable.

| Original Score: A- | Jan 26, 2018

Moving into darker territory where the mumblecore milieu would never venture, Short Term 12 offers a much-needed corrective to the indie-darling set-particularly in its curiously optimistic ending.

| Oct 2, 2017