Sunday,
June 24, 2001, The
INDIE INDIE Column
"Pick of the week…a highly inventive feature titled
"Twelve". Its a gritty, sci-fi thriller about a man who wakes up one
morning suffering from total amnesia. He then strikes out to discover who or
what he is and why he has no memory. "But Massawyrm," I know your
thinking "We've seen that done a million times!" Yeah, well you've
never seen it POV. That's right, this entire film is shot Point of View from the
protagonist. We only see him in reflections and on video tape.
"Twelve" puts you in the role of Zach Taylor, seeing through his eyes,
learning about the twists and turns of the plot as he does, and yes, even
falling for his girlfriend.
The POV gets a bit gimmicky in the beginning and its a little
tough at first to adjust to the style of shooting, but once the film gets going,
it really gets going, and you accept what you're seeing and how its shot for
what it is: Clever, inventive and ballsy. The sci-fi is dealt with in an
original manner as well, utilizing ideas and concepts over special effects, kind
of like a gritty, New York style, low budget Gattaca.
I really got caught up in the story, but mostly what drew me
in was the acting. These actors really did an awesome job of putting you in
Zach's place, looking into the camera as if really looking into your eyes,
showing honest emotion and confusion over Zach's situation and really bringing
out the terror and horrific nature of the plot Zach is involved with. Lauren Fox
(Zach's Girlfriend) is just plain amazing. The range of emotion this woman shows
with her facial expressions alone is just plain riveting. You literally start to
fall for her yourself as you see her character as this real, flesh and blood,
three dimensional woman the likes of which modern film tends to run short of.
This film is flat out grit and concept, that has a real human heart beating
within it. Films like this are rarities. Purely original and highly
entertaining. Writer/Director Daniel Noah has a real winner with this one.
I'm not exactly sure what this was shot on or what the budget
was; all I can say is that it looks GOOD. If this was done on HD, it was
polished up digitally (I do know there were some digital effects) or its either
really good 16 or straight up 35. Very well done in that department.
Due to its highly experimental nature, this film is perfect
for Festivals and would make a great Arthouse release. It's really something
different and special."
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