Change Your Image
mauriziolabonia
Reviews
12 (2003)
12 & The Guerrilla-Drive In
Showing 12 on the streets of los angeles is one of the most daring things an indipendent filmaker can do. 12 and the guerrilla-filmaking experience remember us why sometimes we watch movies, that is leave with something that makes us think. First of all, 12 is a very original picture: the illegitimate children of Greek God Zeus are anxiously waiting for their father to move them to new lives. But he gives them a task: in order to survive, they will have to find a play, "The Importance of Being Earnest," by Oscar Wilde, in which they must perform if they want to survive. So they wander in the City of Angels where they meet colorful characters, fall in love and manage to fullfill their goal. The director took 12 years to put together his movie, that shows plenty of dedication and determination for something that was certainly not thought to be mainstream. The problem with 12 is that, as we are so accostumed with watching movies that we already know how they are going to begin and end, we have a problem with a movie that does not flow like some dramatica guru has decided stories have to be told. But that is what makes 12 fascinating, it attempts to tell a story, a very original one, by breaking the rules of both storytelling and filmaking. 12 may not work all the time, but its flaws are often what push you to think freely and hopefully fill the gaps, which is what art should do.