Customer Reviews

12 and Holding

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To say that TWELVE AND HOLDING is a haunting film is an understatement. At the beginning we meet four twelve year olds: twins Jacob and Rudy Carges (both played by Conor Donovan), Malee (Zoe Weizenbaum) and Leonard (Jesse Comacho). We soon realize that the four are friends not so much because of what they share in common as much as the fact they are four people who have no one else. Jacob is disfigured and Rudy reluctantly comes to his rescue. His attempts to protect his brother, which may be due as much to pride as brotherly love angers some bullies who set his tree house ablaze not realizing he's in it. The remainder of the film focuses on the life the three remaining friends live after Rudy's death. Jacob becomes fixed on revenge and visits his brother's killers in prison without his parents' knowledge. His parents adopt a child as a replacement which is obvious to Jacob though not to the parents. Jesse becomes obsessed with losing weight because a coach feels sorry for him because he's the most overweight child he's ever seen. Malee falls in love with a construction worker who is a patient of her psychoanalyst mother. The film has a number of surprising plot twists which make it anything but predictable and we seem to get inside the world of some loners we all know exits but most of us never get to know.

There are many positive aspects of the film. The actors are convincing and the world created seems plausible. The story may seem too far fetched for some viewers, as some critics claimed when it was released and this would be true for most typical adolescents and even some who are not so typical, but we're talking about twelve year olds reacting to grief with no one to reach out to them. There are a few scenes that while interesting, don't quite connect to the larger story, but it is well paced, well acted, and certainly one that will remain with a viewer for a while.

Rudy and Jacob Carges are twins and almost exact opposites: Rudy is brash, always willing to fight, good at sports and dedicated to his weaker, port-wine stained on the face brother, Jacob. The twins also have two good friends Malee Chaung (Zoe Weizenbaum): an in your face, smart as a whip, flute player and Leonard Fisher (Jesse Camacho): a way overweight kid who wouldn't think of camping out without a huge bag of pretzels and licorice. They are all 12 years old...hence the title but none of the four are in any way in a holding pattern. In fact they are all straining at the bit of pre-adolescence, dying to be teenagers, have romances and do whatever it is that they want. As in Director Michael Cuesta' previous film, "L.I.E.," these kids are mature beyond their years, conflicted and mostly very lonely.
Added to this pre-adolescence mix are a couple of adults: Annabella Sciorra as Malee's mother who is as lost if not more so than Malee and a sensitive, devastated, psychologically suffering Gus beautifully portrayed by Jeremy Renner ("Dahmer"). It is particularly heartening to see Renner playing someone other than a weirdo and nailing it.
Cuesta is after a lot more here then even in his richly textured "L.I.E." In "Twelve and Holding," he wants to expose the dynamics, troubles, slice open and expose the social and psychological machinations of the modern American family: and he pretty much succeeds on all fronts.

This is generally not a family movie about adolescence. Although it is tame in comparison to other thought provoking adolescent movies. The movies has many characters of varying ages. Most of the acting is very good and the parts played seem very realistic. You aren't going to be thrown on a ride of precoscious drug and alcohol abuse with sexual expermentation. This movie plays a realistic role of what many preteens experience on a daily basis. The constant battle to be known and wanted. Self awareness seems to be a very important stage of these young characters lives and getting to know them makes this movie all that better. One character works to battle his being overweight while another becomes aware of her sexuality and uses it to flirt. Although the main character has to battle demons that knowone would wish on a child that young. His twin brother was killed in a terrible event and he faces those demons by confronting the two who killed him. This movie is chilling at points and can make you feel good at others. Just when you think it's going in one direction it throws you for a curve and puts you somewhere else. I think if you watch this movie you will be plestantly surprised...I was.

Destined to be a sleeper gem that will remain largely undiscovered by most folks due to the unpopular content: kids are portrayed not as innocent teddy bears, but as savvy, wise-beyond-their-years, young adults. This is a big, tough, serious drama, with tension and a big emotional punch that will connect. Brace yourself for a rocky ride.

It might have been more believable if the kids were all geniuses from a magnet school. Frankly I have never been acquainted with anyone quite as precocious and independent as the characters in this film. But maybe this is where the human race is headed in the future.

It offers a welcome respite from the same old saws being churned out by the movie industry. I prize originality, creativity and most of all, good writing, and this movie definitely has all that. Highly recommended.

12 AND HOLDING is one of those little Indie films that somehow slips through the cracks of public attention and only when it is released on DVD does it surface as brilliant star of a film. Powerfully and sensitively written by Anthony Cipriano and directed with unrelenting intensity and grace by Michael Cuesta, this is a film about youngsters on the brink of adulthood who respond to each other and to events in ways far beyond the scope of most mature adults.

Identical twins Rudy and Jacob Carges (Conor Donovan in both roles) differ in the fact that Jacob has a facial birthmark and feels second fiddle to his twin Rudy, a quick, tempered lad who eggs on bullies causing the maelstrom that is to follow. Their close friends are Malee Chuang (Zoe Weizenbaum), the daughter of psychologist Dr. Carla Chuang (Annabella Sciorra) who remains bruised by a failed marriage to an abusive husband, and grossly obese Leonard Fisher (Jesse Camacho) whose parents (Marcia DeBonis and Tom McGowan) are equally addicted to junk food. When Rudy challenges two ruffian classmates (Michael Fuchs and Martin Campetta), the trio's tree house is threatened and is burned as a gesture or revenge - but Rudy happened to be inside the tree house and was burned to death. His parents (Linus Roache and Jayne Atkinson) are devastated as is Jacob, now their only son and one who feels he should have been the twin that died. The family wants revenge and is infuriated when the two lads who caused the tragedy are given only one year of detention.

This event sets off changes in the three friends: Jacob visits the perpetrators in the detention home, unable to see that Rudy's death was an unplanned accident. He threatens the lads and one actually commits suicide in his cell. Jacob gradually becomes friends with the other lad when his security at home is threatened by is parent's adoption of a black son. This new camaraderie results in a plan that leads to a surprising end. In the meanwhile, Leonard's injury in the fire leads to his loss of taste and he sees his obesity, and that of his entire family, as disgusting and commits to changing his life, unable to even forcibly gain the same change from his parents - another surprising end. And Malee's desperate need for a father figure and her starting adolescence leads her to become enchanted by one of her mother's patients, construction worker Gus Maitland (Jeremy Renner in a superb performance) and she attempts to seduce the psychologically damaged Gus without success. The manner in which these three youngsters enter the adult world is more than challenging and the results of their response to entering 'maturity' and to the trauma of the death of Rudy is shattering.

Cuesta directs these fine actors - there is not a weak one in the cast - with surety and a degree of sense of spontaneity that is truly splendid. This is most assuredly an ensemble performance worthy of awards: it is also a series of star turns for Jeremy Renner, Annabella Sciorra, Conor Donovan, Zoe Weizenbaum and Jesse Camacho. This is independent filmmaking at its finest: the story is tough, the conclusions disturbing, and the quality of acting is astounding. First Class work. Grady Harp, January 07

A true baseball fanatic will go to a hundred baseball games hoping to be at that one well-played game in which your team wins the game on a home run in the bottom of the ninth. Nothing in sports can match the euphoria of that moment and it stays with you for weeks, months and sometimes years after all the other games are long forgotten. This movie is just like that. It is a rare treasure of great acting by all the performers, (not your cutsey Disney or Nickelodeon kids), of unexpected plot changes, of great story telling, and most noteably, scenes that somehow stay with you long after the movie ends. Somehow, I really ended up caring for all the characters: the kids, the parents, the construction worker, and even the so-called bad kid; and hoping that their lives will get better in the future. That is a rare film indeed that you can see the weaknesses and the strengths of all the characters and you end up liking all of them and hoping every thing turns out ok for all of them. Watch the film and see if you don't think about the characters when you are in a quiet setting or trying to fall asleep. It took me awhile to fall asleep after watching the film.

To say that 12 and Holding is a monumental cinematic acheivement would be saying the absolute least. Michael Cuesta, director of the equally brilliant and disturbing L.I.E. gives us another glimpse at young lives and deadly circumstances. After losing his brother to a prank played by bullies, a young boy must face life and its tragedies head on. His parents couldn't be more at odds over the situation, adding to his confusion, while his friends ultimately seem to be slipping into their own voids and allowing the sadness and desperation of their own problems to surface. Absolutely perfect acting performances propel this independent film to its' ultimate shocking climactic moment that caused such a force of emotions in me that I had to pause the DVD until I could properly get a grip and finish the film. This is as real as life gets. It is a movie to watch and really talk about. It serves as a prime example of what can happen when bullying goes too far. direction: 5+ stars Acting:5+ stars story: 5+ stars

I've never seen acting from kids like this before, and the screenplay was brilliant. Awesome movie.

I could not stop looking at this film today,and I never heard of it.The acting is Brilliant,and the ending is shocking.
The 3 pre-teens all have there own story,
One boys struggles with weight,another boy with the murder of his twin brother,and the young girl in love with a mature older man who has his own shocking story.
YOu will not be able to turn away from this movie.I have to see it again.

Michael Cuesta's 12 and Holding isn't a particularly showy film. It's shot very basically and obviously on a small budget. There's a small amount of fairly big-name talent among the adult cast but most of the kids are relatively unknown actors. Everyone though does an excellent job in bringing the viewer into this world and this situation. (aside from the occasionally over-acted line or 2.)

Two twins, one with a major birthmark covering half his face who lives in his brother's shadow, defend their treehouse from bullies, who decide to burn it down, which accidentally kills the popular brother. The movie's about a group of 3 friends who spend most of the movie apart, and over the span of several months, each deal with their lives in their own ways. Jake, the surviving brother, has the only story that seems to be specifically about him grieving over his brother; he deals with his depressed parents, frequently goes to juvenile hall to visit his brother's killers, who he taunts with pictures of his dead brother, and dealing with his parents' decision to adopt a kid.

The other 2 kids, though, (one a fat kid named Leonard and a girl named Malee) say they have moved on, and sure enough, their plots deal very little with the death. Leonard, who lost his ability to taste food since the incident, decides to desperately begin losing weight. He attempts to force his very overweight family to join him. Malee, meanwhile, reveals herself to be a very lonely girl who clings to an adult construction worker she has a thing for. He's probably the best character in the movie, and is acted extremely well. This plot turns out to resonate the most. Although neither of these two friends seem to be openly grieving over the death, these plots and their actions reveal somewhat disturbed and sad characters, who have been clearly messed up by the death, even though they (and the movie) never specifies this.

The movie, although the actual death is early in the film and many of the funeral proceedings happen offscreen, makes EXCELLENT use of songs that are both ambient and eerie. These are sprinkled throughout the film and always served to somehow remind me of the tragedy early on in the film and they keep an otherworldly air flowing throughout.

The movie's not perfect. I found many of the adults to be pretty irritating (except for the construction worker, who'se the only adult in the movie who doesn't seem to be a cliche) and I also thought the fat kid's story seemed to be extremely reminiscent of a bad sitcom. It just didn't really seem to fit with the rest of the movie. Aside from the excellent licensed music, the actual soundtrack that was COMPOSED for the film's extremely week. The same song plays frequently, and other music just seems to further bring to light the feel of a bad sitcom.

But this is all completely forgotten by the time the film reaches its very powerful ending...which has definitely divided the opinions of several people who have seen it. Some may call it "out of nowhere," but it all made complete sense to me. This kid was NOT alright, and getting closure was important to him and that was what he felt he had to do....and it all just sort of clicked at the end. It was these final scenes that left the biggest impression on me.

It's not flawless but it's a very powerful film that's definitely worth a viewing for anyone whose into indie films or into "human" stories.