Twelve
(2001)
For everyone who almost puked at the jittery and shaky
camera work of "Blair Witch" comes "Twelve," a no-budget
DV feature with camera work that makes the words jittery
and shaky inadequate to describe the visuals here.
"Twelve" is about Zach Taylor, a young man who wakes
up after a party and can't remember his name, or anything
about his life prior. Surprisingly, when Zach looks
in the mirror, he can't see his face either. This is
the only creepy and interesting thing about the film.
Zach's inability to see his face in mirrors or in video
films of his face is a cool effect.
The film is made from Zach's POV, so, like him, we
only see his face when he looks in mirrors or in a video
camera screen. And like him, we do not see his face
either. But when Zach runs, and he is running away from
something or someone almost the entire film, we see
things from his POV as usual. And here the camera work
is awful. It becomes avant-garde garbage. And there
is a lot of this in the film. With a run time (no pun
intended) of 82 minutes, if you took all the crappy
nonsense video footage out of the film, you'd be left
with about an hour of usable footage.
The plot here is ridiculous. Sort of a homage to Phillip
K. Dick as written by a high school junior. Worse, Zach
is led to his knowledge of what is going on by a seemingly
random moment when he runs into the library and discovers
some interesting information about who he is. Why he
runs into a library is beyond me. The script never attempts
to explain it. Eventually, Zach realizes that a mysterious
corporation named IGOR is responsible for his condition.
The saving grace of "Twelve" is a character who plays
sort of a renegade. I'm not sure of the actors name,
but he is funny as hell. Director Daniel Noah seems
to let this guy improv a lot and he is hilarious. He
provides comic relief. And trust me, this film needs
all the relief from its experimental nonsense that it
can get.
The best scene in the film, however, is when Zach
visits his mother and grandfather (sort of). The older
lady playing his mother is also quite wonderful. If
the film had settled down and tried harder to explain
what is going on and tried harder to be a real film
rather than sort of a experimental NYC film student
thing it might be pretty good.
Noah is defiantly inventive and "Twelve" is impressive
in many ways, considering its seeming lack of budget.
But the film is too hard to watch. The camera work is
far too jangled. Ultimately, this film isn't just a
dull headache; it's an aneurysm
This Film Reviewed
from the 2001 Austin Film festival!
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Report
Card
Script:
C-
Acting: C+
Cinematography\Lighting: F
Special Effects\Make Up: C
Music: F
Final
Grade: F
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