Twelve

A unique collaboration of 12 Boston area directors and starring a local ensemble cast of relative unknowns or actors with limited professional experience, I had the privilege of watching this phenomenal work at its world premiere.

Co-producers Scott Masterson and Steve Oare hand-picked 12 directors to shoot a maximum 10-minute short during a different month of 2007. Each director had creative license to explain a story any way he/she wanted, with the caveat that a tree is framed in at least one scene.

The films were directed by Scott Masterson, Seanbaker Carter, Andy McCarthy, Garth Donovan, Luke Poling, Noah Lydiard, Megan Summers, Brynmore Williams, Joan Meister, Marc Colucci, Jared Goodman, and Vladmir Minuty.

Individually, the 12 short films were shot in and around Boston and focus on love, friendship, despair, addiction, and violence using elements of comedy, romance, song, and documentary.

I liked each film in a different way, but my favorites include:

"March" - about a serial murderer and the police detective who tracks him down in a very funny way.

"June" - following the inventive exploits of a teenage boy who builds a flying contraption to escape his alcoholic stepmother. How many kids don't want to fly?

"August" - an educational documentary about bees and the hive sounds they make. Very intellectual here, and a bold contrast to many fictional elements of the other months.

"November" - a jarring look at inner-city youth who live a life of drugs, guns, and violence.

The only thing that kept me from walking out of the theater during the screening of this movie was the knowledge that each segment could not be more than 10 min and the dim hope that the next one would be better.

For the most part, the stories were dull and the characters were unbelievable, highly irritating, or both. Even the soundtrack was at times grating and not well balanced with the action. Many of the films seemed to take themselves a bit too seriously to the effect that they seemed unnatural and it was impossible for the audience to take them seriously.

There were a couple exceptions:

"October" was a light-hearted comedy about drinking, which was genuinely funny.

"August" was a fairly interesting look at beekeepers and their hives.

"June" was a cute story about a boy who builds a flying machine.

Unfortunately these briefly entertaining shorts were not really enough to make it worth enduring the rest of the year.