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Bonus Review #11
Film: Twelve and Holding [NR] 94 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $12
Where Viewed: Broadway Performance Hall, Seattle, WA
[2006 Seattle International Film Festival]
When 1st Seen: 27 May 2006
Time: 3:45 p.m.
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DVD |
Raising a child in 2006 is growing ever more challenging. This is not to say it was ever easy, it is just that the number of things society has created to distract them from their proper maturation has grown exponentially. Meanwhile, demands on parental or guardian time, to earn sufficient income to care for them and maintain any standard of living has skyrocketed in the same time period. It is ironic, when one considers that for thousands of years 12-14 year-old boys and girls were considered a fine age to go off to work or get married. Back when the life expectancy of a person was 35 years. So, this also, complicates matters for today's parents because either they might not have changed with the times or they might not want to see their children change with the times. Hence all the more poignant, Michael Cuesta's film Twelve and Holding, based on Anthony Cipriano's screenplay, is for today's parents, as it focuses on the lives and consequences of three very insecure (but try telling them that), twelve-year old friends: Jacob (Conor Donovan), Malee (Zoe Weizenbaum), and Gus (Jeremy Renner). In a horrifying event that will arouse fear and angst in any parent of a young child, the lives as they knew them of these three friends are all upended equally when the Jacob's twin brother, Rudy, is killed tragically in a Molotov-cocktail bombing of their tree house. Indeed, it is a surreal event that serves as a painful reminder as to the fragility of human life. The impact Rudy's death has on each of the three children closest to the incident, however, was remarkably different. Malee takes to launching her blossoming womanhood to the forefront as she seeks
"Michael Cuesta, director of L.I.E., has never shied away from shocking material that really forces us to look at the lives we make for our children. I think his works are important and eye-opening."
an adult relationship with a handsome young, but much other than she, construction worker who coincidentally happens to be a patient in the care of her psychologist mother Carla (Annabella Sciorra). This culminates in a very, very sad event that will be difficult for most parents and guardians of 12-year old girls to watch or believe. As for Jacob, the twin of the twosome left to uphold the hopes and dreams of his parents Ashley(Jayne Atkinson) and Jim (Linus Roache) formerly distributed over two children now squarely on his shoulders and, he being the one of the two twins with a large cranberry stain birthmark covering most of the left-side of his face, he had to deal first with the near break down of his parents and then with the rage he feels towards his brother's killers. Ultimately, this leads him to frequent visits (unbeknownst to his parents) to see them in juvenile prison where he develops what appears to be a very close 'friendship' with one of them. However, by the end, Jacob, now facing an adopted little brother he perceives as his parents' desperate act to replace Rudy, commits a horrifying act of revenge. Rudy's death does have one positive effect. It causes Gus, who was described in the film by his P.E. teacher as being the most out of shape kid he's ever known, to agree to go on a strict diet and exercise regimen so that he can play high school in football. Even Gus though, gets things a bit twisted in his mind when his parents (who continue to make his life miserable as they are the ones who fattened him up in the first place and believe that kids should be eating all the time to stay healthy) leave him sort of in charge to chaperone his mom and he takes the matter of helping her to lose weight to heart.
Most parents and guardians of twelve-year old I know who watch this film will be shocked and will not believe that their child is even marginally capable of this kind of behavior. Unfortunately, they would be wrong. As we continue to allow the media in our country to raise the children and give them the idea that they are abnormal unless they are practicing very adult behaviors as early as possible, we continue to allow to deprive them of their right to have a happy and healthy childhood. Moreover, as we continue to make it more and more challenging for single parents to effectively raise children, by cutting before and after school program funding, we leave children prey to fall victim to nefarious elements in our society that would use them for their own gain. I found Twelve and Holding to be a powerful film and a valuable look at the lives of kids today in the USA. Michael Cuesta, director of L.I.E., has never shied away from shocking material that really forces us to look at the lives we make for our children. I think his works are important and eye-opening.
Most parents and guardians of twelve-year old I know who watch this film will be shocked and will not believe that their child is even marginally capable of this kind of behavior. Unfortunately, they would be wrong. As we continue to allow the media in our country to raise the children and give them the idea that they are abnormal unless they are practicing very adult behaviors as early as possible, we continue to allow to deprive them of their right to have a happy and healthy childhood. Moreover, as we continue to make it more and more challenging for single parents to effectively raise children, by cutting before and after school program funding, we leave children prey to fall victim to nefarious elements in our society that would use them for their own gain. I found Twelve and Holding to be a powerful film and a valuable look at the lives of kids today in the USA. Michael Cuesta, director of L.I.E., has never shied away from shocking material that really forces us to look at the lives we make for our children. I think his works are important and eye-opening.
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12 And Holding [DVD](2005) DVD
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