Twelve and Holding

Review by Scott Essman

For DIRECTED BY Magazine

In the remarkable new film, Twelve and Holding, directed by Michael Cuesta (L.I.E) from a script by Anthony Cipriano, one simultaneously responds to the brutal honesty reflected in both the multi-layered script and rich performances while sensing the dread throughout the story that at least one or more of the central characters is doomed to an unpleasant fate.  That Cuesta can instill his film — cast with virtually unknown 12-year old leads —with all of those unique qualities puts him in the heralded league of bold independent filmmakers with a sensitivity towards prepubescent talent, including Todd Solondz and Larry Clark.

Though the cast is peppered with notable adult players such as Mark Linn-Baker and Annabella Sciorra, the strength of the film lies in its believable juveniles.  To a person, each of the children manifests an inner strength, originality, and truth in his/her performance, and it’s a tribute to Cuesta that he was able to extract such displays of purity from these youngsters.  Concerning an act of accidental violence and its affect on an interrelated community of friends and their parents, Twelve and Holding presents a world where age does not equal insight.  Cuesta paints his children, self-aware and inquisitive about their world, with equal if not greater clarity as his adult characters.

With entertainment economics of the 21^st century being what they are, the only unfortunate reality of a film such as Twelve and Holding is that it has been created in such a way as to not reach the broadest possible audience.  Lacking an A-list star, broadly entertaining subject matter, or a massive marketing campaign, this IFC film will sadly not receive the distribution and exposure of inferior studio fare released at the same pre-summer box office period.  However, one would hope that Cuesta will do the job himself and market the film vigorously enough until all audiences, and not just regional art house crowds, take notice of this amazing achievement of memorable characterization and cinematic nuance.