| | | A Film By Michael Cuesta.
Features: DVD, Widescreen
In the suburbs of America, three close knit 12-year-olds -- introverted Jacob (Conor Donovan), precocious Malee (Zoe Weizenbaum) and vulnerable Leonard (Jesse Camacho) -- start down the path of self-discovery and begin to distinguish their own voices from those of their parents. Sparked by the tragic death of Jacob's twin brother, the trio band together as they grapple with feelings of revenge, the burden of grief and the indelible experiences of growing up.Format: DVD MOVIE
"The kids deliver uniformly solid, occasionally remarkable performances." Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune
"Cuesta directs the lead actors with such feeling that their misery seems authentic." Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
"...the film stays cool without ever being cold." Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Editor's Note
Director Michael Cuesta follows up his debut film L.I.E. with another harrowing coming-of-age tale in TWELVE AND HOLDING. Cuesta casts young Conor Donovan as his lead, with the impressive actor playing twins--the sociable athlete Rudy and the distinctly introspective Jacob. Joining Donovan in the cast are Jesse Camacho as Leonard, a paunchy kid reminiscent of Jerry O'Connell's Vern in STAND BY ME, and Zoe Weizenbaum as Malee, a quietly disturbed young girl with a fractured family life. The five 12-year-olds are close friends, but their lives are thrown into turmoil when a prank by local bullies goes horribly wrong and Rudy is burned alive in a tree house. As Jacob's parents fall apart at the news, the rudderless surviving twin realizes he can't rely on them for support, so he makes the surprising decision to make regular visits to the two brothers who killed Rudy as they languish in a juvenile detention center. Meanwhile, Malee copes with the tragedy by obsessing over an attractive older guy named Gus (Jeremy Renner) and Leonard gets on a health kick despite his overweight parents' protestations. Cuesta's film draws on elements of similar genre favorites, not only STAND BY ME but Jacob Estes's MEAN CREEK and even the work of Todd Solondz and Gregg Araki. But TWELVE AND HOLDING is not a facile reproduction of other work; instead it's a startling kids'-eye view of poor parenting and woeful neglect. The four leads give astonishingly mature performances, and Cuesta manages to surpass his meagre budget by creating a stylistic tour-de-force that may leave anxious parents wondering what their kids are doing in their spare time.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital | | Deleted Scenes | | Interactive Menus | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Scene Selection |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: GENIUS PRODUCTS, INC |
| Release Date: 10/10/2006 |
| Running Time: 94 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2006 | | Catalog ID: 79614 | | UPC: 00796019796149 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"The performances are impassioned....A truthful, disturbing portrait of puberty and its discontents." 04/11/2006 p.E20Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "[With] brilliant thesping from the young leads. Weizenbaum in particular is the standout performance..." 01/01/2007 p.34 Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
Michael Cuesta's "Twelve and Holding" weaves together the stories of three families and three children who take desperate measures to try to solve the problems in their lives. All three kids feel let down by their parents -- who love them, but not usefully or with much insight. But this isn't one of those films where the kids are filled with wisdom and find wonderful solutions. What they find instead is danger. - Roger Ebert
The New York Times 9 of 10
This is the exceedingly rare film that understands how lonely, insecure preadolescent children can become so consumed by their feelings that they lose sight of ordinary boundaries and unconsciously act out their parents' darkest fantasies of passion and revenge. The movie wastes no time as it shuttles from one drama to another. It also loves its characters. - Stephen Holden
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