12 and Holding

Plot synopsis:
The film explores adolescent issues through the minds of three friends and their reactions after a boy named Rudy Carges (Conor Donovan) is killed in a tree house set on fire by local bullies Jeff and Kenny, who carelessly didn't find out he was inside until too late. The boy's twin brother Jacob, a boy with a huge birthmark (also played by Donovan), decides to seek revenge against the bullies. Leonard (Jesse Camacho) who's overweight, survives the tree house fire but loses his sense of taste and smell. Thanks to the fire, this prompts Leonard to go on a diet, which isn't welcomed by his obese family. The boys' female friend Malee (Zoe Weizenbaum) tries to befriend an adult named Gus (Jeremy Renner), a grief-stricken patient of her therapist mother, Carla (Annabella Sciorra). Jacob's family falls apart after the death of his brother. But shortly after, his parents adopt a boy named Keith Gardner. Meanwhile, Malee begins to have a crush on Gus and changes the song for her recital to one Gus liked, just for him. As time goes by, she sees Gus as her "soul mate". She sneaks into his house one night to find him grieving. Afraid to confront him, Malee steals his gun and leaves. She gives it to Jacob the following day.
Jacob's mother gets furious when she finds out Jeff and Kenny are being put in juvenile hall for only one year as they were charged with manslaughter instead of murder, while Jacob's father views Rudy's death as an accident. Jacob frequently visits Jeff and Kenny, and initially threatens them, until eventually Jeff commits suicide. Jacob befriends Kenny, soon learning he has an early release and is illegally moving to New Mexico. Meanwhile, Leonard's father decides to take his sisters to Florida instead of Leonard (who would usually go). Leonard decides to force his mother to lose weight by trapping her in the cellar. They both end up in the hospital after a gas leak in their home. Next, Jacob and Kenny agree that Jacob can go with him to New Mexico. Malee visits Gus and removes her clothes in an attempt to seduce him. Instead, Gus calls Malee's mother to come and pick her up. The next day, Gus explains to therapist Carla about the last fire he ever fought (which involved killing an injured little girl, upon the girl's request), claiming that Malee wanted him to take her pain away, as he was aware of her growing crush on him.
Meanwhile, Jacob's mother tells him that Keith Gardner wasn't adopted to replace Rudy, and that she wants Kenny dead, which reminds Jacob of his planned revenge. The night of escape for Jacob finally comes and he meets up with Kenny. Jacob insists on going through a construction site which he says is a secret route. Once there, Jacob points Gus's gun at Kenny, and tells him "you killed him" before shooting him dead. Jacob buries the body and leaves. He returns in the daytime, and sees Gus spreading cement above Kenny's grave.
Malee begins visiting her estranged father and Leonard's family finally starts eating healthily. The movie ends with Jacob's mother smiling at him from inside the house.

Tags: revenge

Review:
This is a haunting coming-of-age film about children, bound by a common, shocking tragedy, who struggle to get on with life and overcome their own troubling problems.
These are very cool kids, even the most troubled, who easily win your affection.During the course of the movie, one of the children queries the others by asking, "Do you know ninety-percent of people's problems are due to their inability to get over the past?" All of these children will be faced with this challenge.
Would make for an excellent movie to show and discuss in schools - I dare you :-) Acting is incredible and pretty much all comes trough the screen as real persons and not some abstractions from a writers imagination.
Luckily it isn't all children who grow up with these kind of experiences - at least not as extreme, but I'm afraid that a lot of parents would be very scared to know that an awful lot actually can relate to this movie....
I watched all of the ones that fit my taste, and one night, I decided to view the movie "Twelve and Holding", hardly knowing anything about it.
Jeremy Renner, who plays Gus, a mislead need-no-sympathy pathetic man who tries to be a clean role model to a little girl, Zoe Weizenbaum who happens to be one of the other lead characters, playing Malee.
Jesse Camacho playing Leonard, who has to deal with his overweight family, one of the more motivational and inspirational characters of the film.
Conor Donovan, another powerful actor from the film, plays two characters, himself and his much more unapproachable and risk-taking brother.
This movie is done very well and definitely engaging to watch, but perhaps not quite to my taste.This is a movie about a tight group of 4 children -- a precocious girl, an overweight boy, and twin brothers, the more out-going who is killed in an accident.
The funeral starts the journey of understanding the lives of the remaining 3 -- not only how the family deals with the murdered son/brother, but how the overweight boy deals with his obesity, and how the young girl deals with her mother and absent father.The heart of the movie really revolves around these near teenagers, and as a result, the coming-of-age experiences are highlighted.
Michael Cuesta (who previously directed the slick and grotesquely controversial "L.I.E" and is currently one of the masterminds behind Showtime's wildly entertaining and grotesque "Dexter") treads some very dangerous ground with "Twelve and Holding." Working with a solid script focusing on how three best friends cope with the accidental death of another friend (the more popular twin brother of one of the protagonists), he presents pre-adolescent characters with the psychologically complex motives of adults and we witness their pratfalls, tragedies, and heart wrenching moments in a the same type of voyeuristic manner usually reserved for more mature characters and audiences.
Elements of classics like "Stand by Me" keep the film grounded even as some of the plot developments get a bit far-fetched.The acting is a huge plus here, with Annabella Sciora (getting more and more enchanting and beautiful with age), Jayne Atkinson (brutal, honest, and gut-wrenching as the grieving mother of the dead child), and Connor Donovan (in duel leads as the dead boy and his conflicted twin brother) highlighting the excellent ensemble.
Cuesta's surprisingly subtle direction somehow manages to avoid both the salacious tendencies of a Larry Clark film and the annoyingly overt quirkiness of similarly themed films like "Me and You and Everyone we Know" to deliver a profound and perplexing tale of coming-of-age, revenge and loneliness..
The film shows us that problems in areas such as violence, guns, race issues and obesity are no longer limited to adults but play an active part amongst young people as well.
The material in this film could have easily been turned into a nightmarish exploitation picture, but its done just right and focuses intently on the reality of these kids situations.Leonard's parents seem to be more caricatures than realistic, and there are some aspects of the screenplay which could have used some fine tuning, but overall Twelve and Holding is a powerful, heartbreaking and tragic film, handled oh so delicately by Cuesta and especially the young actors and some of the adults as well(especially Jeremy "Dags" Renner, who'da thunk it).A very nice little film that deserved a much wider audience than it got.3.5/4.
i would refer to it as something similar to the movie "crash" except it does not deal with racial or social tension, but with a "coming of age" one, a quiet "universal" theme as well.the content: there are 3 different "plots" that happens with every single one of the 3 kids in the main roles.they are overall related but only because the characters are "friends", within the same "normal" and "typical" north American family neighborhood(and probably not only).
and the the lost plot brings to light certain aspects of how and why more and more teenagers are being over-weight, and dealing with that on both personal and within the family plan; what could be behind this quiet increasingly problem we all notice around us?(and i am not talking about simplistic outcomes but THE roots of this problem as some call it.there are some really Awkward moments, rarely seen on the silver screen, especially the ones involving the young girl.
yet all the scenes have at least sensibility, quiet emotional in a realistic way and not some "tear-jerker" or "cry for Oscar" ones.the production: the kids actors are phenomenal.especially the young girl which i am sure will have a big carrier ahead.
all the adult supporting roles are well played as well.the camera work is not great but irrelevant here.soundtrack is quiet "cute", not much but efficient when needs to.i only give it 8 stars because this production is "slow" at times(not consistently but enough to take away some entertainment aspects any movie should have), probably due to budget limits.
there were times i was about to loose interest but then something "genuinely" happens, quiet many times actually, to keep me "focused".i recommend this to parents or anyone in a need/mood for a real LIFE drama.the movie generally teaches and it does not preach, which is always a good thing for such features.
It is a simple story  without much special effects or famous actors playing  but the way the story is shown will make you remember what you've seen .One could say that the movie was disturbing  as it showed things most people would never want to happen to them or their kids  at the same time everything seems to real.
One just couldn't miss the exceptional performance of the young Conor Donovan who plays two roles  and does it so well, that I have to admit that I haven't noticed that both boys are played by the same actor.The soundtrack is extremely powerful  especially the melancholic music in some scenes.
My opinion that all viewers would able to sense something similar to what they felt when they were growing up  that sense of anger, or desire for revenge or the will to protect your relatives and friends .Despite of what some other reviewers wrote  I did not find the movie tough to watch  yes it deals with violence even death , but it does it in quite an unique way ..
Despite the dramatic turns and extreme situations that fly through the quick film, the characters stay consistently grounded to their respective realities, no doubt due to the wonderfully moving material, but also in no small part to the triumphant three performances that usually held more sincerity and truth in simple glances then most overpriced, pretty faced, Hollywood players can ever try to fake us into pretending we are convinced.
In fact, even then - his performance is SO perfect that I would have thought he would just BE like that if he hadn't ALSO played the role of his twin brother Rudy, who has a totally different personality.
What greater compliment can Conor get then that I wasn't sure if Rudy was played by the SAME actor until after I saw that in the credits, at the end of the movie!Moreover, although Jacob is supposed to be the 'ugly' one, as a result of a defacing birthmark on his face (being the cause of his different personality) -- I hardly even noticed Rudy: he wasn't beautiful in my eyes, while Jacob is very very beautiful.
The interaction between the young friends added a touch of humor.I would highly recommend this movie, especially to parents.
While I could comment on a "Children of Men" or "Babel" enough people have seen these titles to where I don't feel my review would make much of a difference in persuading someone else to see it.But then there's a film like "Twelve and Holding" which has very limited distribution and marketing.
And not only that, but paralleling them to their corresponding parental units, who sometimes act more like our idea of how the children should be."Twelve and Holding" is essentially a film about maturity and living in the aftermath of a tragic event.
And perhaps most effective, Cuesta employs one of the better movie soundtracks I've heard in a while.This is one of those films that comes along and takes you by complete surprise with its beauty and courage to portray difficult events without batting an eye or sugarcoating the facts.
The acting is excellent (the entire cast), the film looks good, and over all it feels extremely real.Unfortunately the story begins to pile on the melodrama half way through and doesn't let up until the credits roll.
This is one of the best acted movies of younger kids I have seen, depicting the torment they share with the loss of their dead friend, and how the twin's brother plans on killing one of the older boys that set the fire.
Conor Donovan (who played identical twin brothers, Jacob and Rudy) is an absolutely brilliant child actor.
The film does an excellent job of showing everyone's grief from the family, right down to the furthest acquaintance, the type of lose and emptiness that people of all ages feel when a tragedy like this occurs, but then the film takes a turn.
The three remaining members of the group realize, at their young age, that life is short and you never know what's going to happen, so they use the tragedy as the inspiration to turn their lives in another direction.
This is the kind of performance, actors three times his age can't pull off successfully, but Donovan does and it makes the whole film.
12 & Holding, actually uses actors that are the same age as their characters, and what these kids had to play through, and how they did so was truly phenomenal.
The main reason I love Indie films is because it shows the viewpoint of real life in a society of 'normal' individuals and this movie depicts it 100% in an era when bullying is becoming prevalent.
It's so nice to see a film, where the main characters are kids, but are NOT those horrible 'Hollywood' version, of cherubic, 'perfect,' innocent little plastic nightmares.TWELVE AND HOLDING tells the story of what happens to the survivors (and friends of) a child's accidental murder - by other kids, doing a foolish prank.They all go through this process differently.
To laugh AND cry.I highly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a well-done film, with a terrific cast (to be honest, I work in this (film) business, and, in Hollywood, it's VERY rare for a child to actually be able to 'ACT.' they're usually just used to be 'cute,' and, I can't stand that.
Leonard suffers an injury as a result of the accident that killed Rudy and now has no ability to taste his food and uses it to his advantage to lose weight, despite the attitude of his parents.While the film occasionally drifts a tiny bit into cliché territory, this is a hard hitting and truly shattering experience.
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.
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.
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.
Played soulfully by Jesse Camacho, Leonard is never just comic relief, but a hurting little boy who wants to change not only his life, but his family's as well.Jacob (Conor Donovan) and Rudy (also played by Conor Donovan) are twin brothers who are very different from each other.
The film deals with twin brothers - one a born leader, the other a social recluse with a facial birthmark - who are friends with Malee (the daughter of a single psychiatrist mom and Leonard, a quiet obese boy from a family full of champion overeater.
The kids are played well by Conor Donovan (twins), Jessie Camacho (Leonard, who looks like a young Paul Sorvino) and Zoe Weizenbaum (Malee).Overall a pretty well constructed film, but would have liked to see a few script changes to prevent a few of the over-the-top moments..
12 and holding not only proves this, but makes the clear statement.The film starts out as we meet our main characters Jacob,Maelee,Leonard and Rudy.
Instead he bonds with one of the bullies, becoming friends with him, which starts impacting his life, while his family is changing around him.Leonard who escaped the fire is diagnosed with a disorder, one in which he can't smell or taste what he's eating, but it leads him on a path to start eating apples and start eating healthier and realize his weight is a problem and he needs to fix it by exercising everyday and even starts looking towards trying to help his family.Maelee takes her emotions she realizes shes attracted to a man twice her age, whom she looks pretty for, sings songs for.
She becomes obsessed with him, trying to be with him, she doesn't care how old he is, only that her heart is telling her she really loves this man, who he himself has problems of his own.I won't get into much spoilers here about what happens to the characters as this movie is just a gift to unravel, you feel the characters grow each time there story is presented and shown.
I haven't seen such a movie since the string of adolescent-drama films produced in the 70s/80s, such as, again, 'Stand By Me.' 'Holding' is completely original, had great music, appropriately comedic moments, excellently cast, suspenseful, emotional, and extremely thought provoking.
I'm not sure that this depiction is necessarily a good thing, especially when the leads in this movie are little more than child actors.
I can understand the point -- violence always manages to make its way in one form or other into the homes of American families -- but for the most, this seems to be some perverted version of Judy Blume thrown onto our faces in the form of an "intelligent movie".Three stories intertwine, stemming from the tragic death of the twin brother of the main character played by Conor Donovan.
and the third act is set.TWELVE AND HOLDING is an uncomfortable movie to watch because of the situation it places Malee.
However, it's artfully handled -- especially when the construction worker (Jeremy Renner) later confesses how this extremely precarious scene helped him resolve some inner demons to Malee's mother (Annabella Sciorra).The other two boys' stories are a little less interesting.
It doesn't paint a pretty picture, but the picture that it does paint illuminates three young people in a realistic manner.At the beginning of the film, you get a look at four young friends getting on with the kind of things that entertain most kids of twelve years.
You later find that Jacob has a large birthmark on his face that seems to explain the difference in personality.Leonard is the fat kid from a family of fat parents and siblings.Malee is the girl of the group who is growing up in a broken home with a distant mother and an absent father.The lives of the three remaining are all changed when Rudy is killed and Leonard is injured by two other boys in an act of vandalism.As a result of his injury, Leonard can no longer smell and, therefore, no longer taste.
There are remnants of a "columbine" type of feeling to this movie as the main protagonist "takes matters into his own hands".A strong and poignant story to watch, but as it rolls by you know that it is depicting reality in one way or another.
When a tragic accidental killing of a twin brother occurs, the surviving sibling and his two best friends (respectively Donovan in dual roles, Camacho and the superb Weizenbaum) handle their aftermath in surprisingly poignant ways with dire circumstances going hand in hand with loss of innocence and coming of age.
An intertwined stories of Jacob, Malee & Leonard, trying to deal with their teen-age problems.