Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography, Studio Trite, Three T Productions and Sony Pictures Classics.

Written by: Nikita Mikhalkov, Aleksandr Novototsky-Voslov, and Vladimir Moiseyenko, adapted from the 1954 teleplay, “12 Angry Men”, written by Reginald Rose.

An interesting take on the 1957 classic American film, “12 Angry Men”, Nikita Mikhalkov’s Russian remake, simply titled “12″, is a mesmerizing, if overlong reinterpretation of an always fascinating story.

In what appears to be an open-and-shut case, a young Chechen teenager has allegedly killed his stepfather and his jury of 12 men must assemble to enter into deliberations to decide the young man’s fate. Believing that the evidence is readily stacked against the accused killer, the bailiff tells the eventual jury foreman (Mikhalkov) that deliberations will take 20 minutes at the most. Advised that the jury room is under construction, the jurors are walked to a local school gymnasium to go through the necessary steps of convicting the young man of murder. But then they arrange for a first vote and shockingly are not unanimous, as one lone juror dissents from the group. Attempting to convince the juror only leads to more hesitancy and an eventful shifting of opinion in whether or not the young Chechen man is guilty or innocent.

What’s most interesting about this remake is how it is laid out and presented. With much of the original story in tact, Mikhalkov still injects some intriguing differences. Not only does each character’s backstory get revealed, but moving the film to a gymnasium and out of the stifling jury room allows for more narrative opportunity. One incredible sequence comes from one juror employing the others to recreate the entire crime scene in the gymnasium, all the while forcing another juror to play the murdered individual. Mikhalkov swirls the camera in and around the proceedings, engaging the viewer in the intensity of the moment, like few scenes have done in recent memory.

Certainly the move to the gymnasium is an obvious difference, but Mikhalkov (also a co-screenwriter on the project) represents each juror as a cross-section of modern Russian society and allows everyone a chance to have their story, their scene, their argument, if you will. More often than not, the stories work more than they fail and for long stretches of time, it is quite a fascinating watch as we witness the interplay between the jurors as their prejudices, preconceived notions, and personal life experiences all play a role in deciding the fate of a young man who may or may not have killed his stepfather.

Even if you are familiar with the original 1957 motion picture adaptation, or have seen the numerous remakes through the years, “12″ is still a better-than-average mystery, and character study, that suffers only through an inability to make every character’s moment mean something. Yet, with the tension amped up to a high degree, “12″ is quite a riveting picture that will draw you in and make you consider what you would do if you were in that room, with those people, in that situation, having to make such a crucial and undoubtedly life-changing decision.

“12″ received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the 80th Annual Academy Awards.

Should I See It?

YES

Mikhalkov’s take on the oft-told story is refreshingly unique enough to stand on its own. At times, the tension is quite intense and the mystery feels reinvigorated.

Even if the movie overstays a while, each character’s story is an intriguing peek into modern Russian culture and gives you an idea of how fractured and divided the country seems to be.

NO

It is heavy in dialogue and requires your absolute best subtitle skill to navigate through the film. An absolute dealbreaker for a lot of movie fans.

It does have stretches where it feels really long and could stand to cut 15-20 minutes in and through the final product.