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12 and Holding (2006)
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Reviews Counted:76
Fresh:56
Rotten:20
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: This shocking pre-teen drama manages, through realistic performances and a sense of empathy, to avoid exploitation and instead deliver something honest and haunting.
Theatrical Release:May 19, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: 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... [More]
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Reviews for 12 and Holding
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 3.5/4 |
One of the most exceptional, down to Earth portrayals of childhood and adolescence in the face of tragedy I've ever seen... Full Review |
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3/4 |
...generally succeeds in spite of its various deficiencies. Full Review |
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[An] intelligent and edgy story that allows believable characters and their interpersonal dynamics to come alive as sinister undercurrents ripple below. Full Review |
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3/5 |
The kids help get the film past its messy, low-budget look, aided by a strong ensemble of familiar adult faces. Full Review |
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4/5 |
It doesn't sound like a barrel of laughs, but [director Michael] Cuesta finds wry humour in tragic situations while at the same time thickening the air with quiet foreboding. Full Review |
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... a film that never quite equals the sum of its many intriguing parts. Full Review |
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5/5 |
One of the films of the year. Unmissable. Full Review |
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3.5/5 |
With his modestly impressive young actors and moody lens, Cuesta finds the normal in the extreme. Full Review |
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C |
A refracted glimpse of American suburbia through the eyes of three pre-teens grappling with grief, reprisal and loneliness, the film boasts some great adolescent performances but can't overcome a rigidly partitioned structure and tonal inconsistency. Full Review |
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4/5 |
A gripping drama examining the pains and frustrations--and also the hidden strengths--of youth. Full Review |
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92/100 |
Though occasionally clumsy, it manages to accurately re-create the especial lonely pain of nascent pubescence, the shock of change and the feeling that no one has ever lived through the sort of emotional weather you're required to endure. Full Review |
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B |
The film careens from crisis to crisis. Yet each time it threatens to spin out of control, [director Michael] Cuesta demonstrates a firm hand that keeps us leaning in with interest. Full Review |
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3/4 |
The children are operating without a safety net or a script typed with kid gloves, and that makes it all the more easy to fear for and sympathize with them, even as the plot takes outlandish twists. Full Review |
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[Director Michael] Cuesta has found a terrific cast. Full Review |
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3.5/5 |
Twelve isn’t always easy to watch. But it feels emotionally authentic -- not exploitive, not farfetchedly quirky. Full Review |
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3/4 |
The kids are very effective. Some laughs seem right, others catch in your throat. There is honest feeling, not sneering. Full Review |
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3/4 |
From the parents to the children, the cast is uniformly excellent. Weizenbaum and Renner deserve special mention for handling a potentially unsettling relationship with care. Full Review |
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