This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Michael Cuesta's TWELVE AND HOLDING is one of the most honest and most bittersweet films about growing up that I can think of. It details the lives and the minds of children with startling honesty and sweet simplicity. It is one of the few films I can say I've seen that treats it's subject matter in a very mature and brave way. It is sweet, sad, disturbing, funny, and all too real.The film details the affected lives of three children having difficulty recovering from the death of a close friend of theirs. Jacob(Conor Donovan) is the twin brother of Rudy, the boy who was killed. Jacob must deal with the guilt as well as the grief of his parents and of the accidental murderers. Leonard and Malee are close friends of Jacob. Malee falls in love with an ex-firefighter, Gus(Jeremy Renner), she meets at Rudy's funeral and subsequently tries to seduce him. 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. This is only Michael Cuesta's second film(his first being one of my personal favorites, L.I.E.) and yet he continues to surprise me with the overwhelming sense of clarity to be found in his films. TWELVE AND HOLDING is a startling reminder of the creativity and imagination to be found in the minds of today's independent filmmakers. The characters in this film are all so beautiful and so terrifying at the same time, particularly the characters of Gus and of Jacob. Very few of the characters are two-dimensional and they all are flawed in ways that make sense and that don't necessarily make them bad people. However, bad things come out of the mistakes of the characters. The ways in which the events are depicted are simply unforgettable. I've said too much already. Just see this film.

This is an edgy little film that portrays twelve-year-olds in a far more reasonable light than most films. 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. They share a tree house where they smoke, drink, and discuss the general topics of adolescents.Rudy and Jacob are twins, and the only thing that seems odd is that Jacob wears a hockey mask most of the time. Rudy is the outgoing twin whereas Jacob is the shy thinker. 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. Instead of continuing to indulge in the fried, sweet, and fattening food his mother so lovingly serves, Leonard commences a diet of fruits and vegetables. His whole family - especially his mother - is totally dismayed by his "strange" behavior. He also begins a daily exercise regimen which baffles them even more. The scenes with Leonard and his family are both comic and tragic - as is life itself. In order to "educate" his mother, Leonard commits some desperate but extremely foolish acts.Malee's distant mother is - ironically - a psychologist. Malee encounters one of her mother's patients in the waiting room. She later sees him shirtless at a construction site and becomes overwhelmed with infatuation. She engages in an all-out campaign to seduce him.Jacob is not only traumatized by the death of his twin but is also alienated by the actions of his parents. His father becomes emotionally distant while his mother is so filled with anger that she can think of nothing but vengeance upon the youths who are responsible for the death of her son. In short, neither is there for their living son.Needless-to-say this is all pretty heady stuff, but director Michael Cuesta is masterful in showing the viewer what might actually happen if all this were real. He - rightly so - makes watching the actions of these young people and the adults who surround them extremely uncomfortable. This is especially true in a scene where Malee seeks to sexually seduce the man with whom she has become infatuated. Cuesta's direction of the emotionally charged scene is masterful.Even though you will be shocked and dismayed, I heartedly recommend this film. It's not pretty, but it certainly is insightful.

for "drama" lovers , this will be "right up their alley". while the actors are generally young kids, this feature is definitely NOT for kids viewing, with or without parents guidance. it is more as something of s to remind you of certain aspects anyone have seen/heard of and could not/did not understand them in their "specific" context, at some time or another during anyone's lifetime. 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). all those 3 ramifications are somehow brutal, yet very realistic in as COULD or DO happen scenarios.all of them also relate to, and tries to show, how the parents upbringing will affect the rest of their lives. the somehow main plot of the "accident" consists of the male teenager's reasoning with "family loss" and the need for "closure". another plot deals with female teenagers's need of "growing up" or at least the instinctual need of doing so sooner then later. 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. the boys are a bit less "involved" but only because the characters requires them as being more "reserved". 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. you will be left with a "positive" feeling of learning/confirming something known or less known

The minute this film started playing, I was hooked. The story follows three 12 year olds who are the normal kind of kids you expect to bump into in your neighbourhood. Each has their own issues, as do all 12 year olds, and it is not till an immensely tragic death amongst them occurs, that they start confronting their issues and start trying to deal with them in their own way. Each very different. The story unravels beautifully and there are times you feel like you need to look away, and start squirming with unease and shock, and times you literally burst out laughing and then cry as well.. Well, I did anyway. I would highly recommend this to pretty much everyone I know, I cant believe it slipped through the net, and I have only just seen it. An absolute gem. To say it is like Stand By Me is a bold statement, but a deserved one. Its of the same calibre. Watch it.