12 and Holding

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12 and Holding ★★★ 2005 (R)

Rudy (Donovan) and his fat buddy Leon ard (Camacho) spend the night in their tree house, which is torched by bullies. Leonard is injured (he loses his sense of taste) but Rudy dies. His twin Jacob is barely able to cope (he already has self esteem issues since a birthmark covers half his face), especially when confronted with his parents' grief and rage. Leonard's survival inspires him to lose weight and get in shape, much to the resentment of his obese parents. Meanwhile, their friend Malee (Weizenbaum) becomes precociously interested in one of her therapist mom's (Sciorra) patients, a hunky construction worker (Renner). Firstrate work by all, with much uncomfortably honest depiction of adolescent bewilderment and fear. 95m/C DVD . US Zoe Weizenbaum, Jeremy Renner, Conor Donovan, Jesse Camacho, Annabella Sciorra, Linus Roache, Jayne Atkinson, Marcia DeBonis, Michael Fuchs; D: Michael Cuesta; W: Anthony Cipriano; C: Romeo Tirone; M: Pierre Foldes.