A loose remake of “12 Angry Men”, “12” is set in contemporary Moscow where 12 very different men must unanimously decide the fate of a young Chechen accused of murdering his step-father, a Russian army officer. Consigned to a makeshift jury room in a school gymnasium, one by one each man takes center stage to confront, connect, and confess while the accused awaits a verdict and revisits his heartbreaking journey through war in flashbacks.
Acting
Twelve virtuosos trading monologues like gladiators with words.
Direction
Mikhalkov weaponizes the gymnasium's fluorescent dread.
Writing
Each backstory lands like a separate short film.
Director
Nikita Mikhalkov
Sergey Makovetskiy
juror #1
Nikita Mikhalkov
juror #2
Sergey Garmash
juror #3
Valentin Gaft
juror #4
Aleksey Petrenko
Juror #5
Yuriy Stoyanov
juror #6
Sergey Gazarov
juror #7
Mikhail Efremov
juror #8
Oleksiy Horbunov
juror #9
Sergei Artsybashev
juror #10
Viktor Verzhbitskiy
juror #11
Roman Madyanov
juror #12
Alexander Adabashyan
bailiff
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mikhalkov cast himself as the juror who saves the day; Russian critics had opinions about this.
The bird motif mirrors the Chechen boy's captivity—note how often windows appear in frame.
RU
