Loosely based on 1957's 12 Angry Men, Nikita Mikhalkov's superbly acted 12 is clever and gripping like its predecessor, but with a distinctly Russian feel.
Loosely based on 1957's 12 Angry Men, Nikita Mikhalkov's superbly acted 12 is clever and gripping like its predecessor, but with a distinctly Russian feel.
When a Russian youth is put on trial for the murder of his adoptive father, it's up to a room full of jurors divided by racism and prejudice to determine the boy's ultimate fate in director Nikita Mikhalkov's loose remake of Reginald Rose's 12 Angry Men. At the center of the storm is a broodingly silent foreman (Mikhalkov). As the deliberation grows increasingly tense, a racist Russian cabbie (Sergei Garmash) attempts to sway the vote of a well-dressed television producer (Yuri Stoyanov) by
staging a vivid recreation of a gruesome murder scene; an elderly Jewish man (Valentin Gaft) recovers the nightmares of the Holocaust; and a Caucasus surgeon (Sergei Gazarov) is pushed over the edge by a hateful rant about the brutishness of Chechens. Later, after one soft-spoken juror (Sergei Makovetsky) wins the jury over with a heartfelt monologue about intemperance and redemption, the volatile group struggles to settle on a final verdict. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
2 1/2 hours of Russian men, middle-aged and up, stuck in one room, pontificating and pleading and challenging. Yes, that means subtitles, lots of them. Still with me? Congratulations.
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