12 and Holding (2005) | DVD Review

I don’t know about you but I’m turning 30 in the next year and, no matter how hard I try, I can’t understand the kids these days. I don’t get what they’re into and I don’t know how to get to them or talk to them. Director Michael Cuesta clearly understands a thing or two that I don’t. 12 AND HOLDING follows three friends through their mental and emotional development in the months after they lose a friend in a fire. It is a coming-of-age story that manages to avoid the tired trappings that come with the genre. Anthony Cipriano’s plucky script tells of three twelve-year-olds facing three very different challenges. Leonard Fisher (Jesse Camacho), who avoided tragedy in the same fire as his friend, has lost his appetite as he can no longer taste or smell, giving him a new license on overcoming his own obesity. Malee Chuang (Zoe Weizenbaum) has an absent father and has just entered puberty. Her first menstruation gives her the confidence to replace her father with a new male authority, one of her psychiatrist mother’s patients. The saddest of the three is little Jacob (Conor Donovan). The boy who died in the fire was his twin brother. Jacob was born with a birthmark that covered the majority of his face and his brother looked out for him but resented him for not being able to stand up for himself. Jacob must deal with the loss of the most important person in his life in addition to the psychological meltdown his parents succumb to. 12 AND HOLDING is subtle and insightful. Cuesta brings you very close to his fantastic cast and allows you to see these young people struggle with being thrown into adulthood while they try to hold on to their past. I still don’t get the kids but these three kids help make some sense out of the rest of them.

The DVD is short on options and by that I mean all it has is feature commentary and one deleted scene. The commentary itself is certainly interesting enough to make up for the lack of other options. Cuesta goes into great detail about the transition from script to screen. Unlike his first feature, L.I.E., he did not have a hand in the 12 AND HOLDING screenplay. That detachment gave him both a sense of responsibility to the writer and a sense of liberation to be able to focus on the direction itself. Good thing too because the direction required his full attention. Cuesta had been told on numerous occasions not to work with children as leads for what one would assume to be obvious reasons but he continues to prove them all wrong. In L.I.E., he directed a young Paul Dano through a budding discovery of his potential homosexuality while navigating the difficult waters of a relationship between a 16-year-old and someone at least 40 years older. In 12 AND HOLDING, he worked with actors who were even younger and who had to convey a number of complex emotions. Cuesta finds that directing young people gives him more insight into directing adults. Children are untouched by training that can both help develop a skill but also has the potential to limit. He treats his young actors like young adults and allows them to grow into the emotions to make his point.

Small inconsistencies in the script detract from the film as a whole but these are not worth harping on. 12 AND HOLDING is a strong, enjoyable film that shows how kids might be hard to understand because they are pulled in so many directions. They want to grow up and they still want to play. They feel some obligation to their parents and they are learning that their parents don’t know everything. Though they don’t know it yet, all of this tugging will eventually bring them closer to the adults they are destined to be.

Movie rating – 3.5

Disc Rating – 2.5