Twelve Thirty

Filmmaker Jeff Lipsky won wide critical praise for his unflinching look at the rise and fall of a marriage in the indie hit “Flannel Pajamas. ” Now, working with a truly extraordinary ensemble of actors, he takes on the nuances of family life, and the unique complexities of the relationship between mothers and daughters in his newly completed feature “Twelve Thirty.”

There are three women in the Langley household: Vivien (Karen Young), the mother, is caught between a fierce independence and an almost agoraphobic attachment to home; seductive and confident Mel (Portia Reiners) is a 19-year-old mirror of her mother; Maura (Mamie Gummer), 22, is alienated, afraid and unable to pinpoint her place in the world. They live together in a seemingly close household, yet each is very much alone.

The man of the house, Martin (Reed Birney), left long ago to pursue a new way of life, but keeps a shadow presence: he maintains a comfortable erotic tie to his ex-wife and a tentative relationship with Mel. Maura has all but shunned him.

The family’s status quo explodes when Jeff (Jonathan Groff) walks into their comfortable yet dysfunctional world. Bright, handsome, ambitious and sure of his future at 22, he’s also socially awkward and a sexual novice who’s been Infatuated with Mel since high school. When they begin working together at the same restaurant, he jumps at the opportunity to finally start a romance with the free-spirited girl – but Mel has other ideas about their time together.

Until then utterly convinced of his own decency, a confused Jeff suddenly finds himself gripped by desire he barely understands, and acting in ways that cross the line of right and wrong. Over the course of a week, he is swept up in the convoluted dynamics of Mel, Maura, and Vivien’s relationships with men, the world and each other. Manipulator and manipulated, seducer and seduced, accuser and accused, he is eventually turned into the common enemy when Martin finally steps up to the paternal plate, leading to a confrontation that results in both his and the Langley family's painful, yet hopeful, coming of age.

“As in a Cassavetes movie, “Twelve Thirty” is a field day for talented actors to cut loose and create complicated, contradictory individuals whom you feel you both know and don’t know...as “Twelve Thirty” gleefully breaks Hollywood rules, it spills out all over the place and only fitfully tries to mop up the mess. But life outside the movies is messy, isn’t it? Above all, it loves its characters and the actors who play them. A fearless, talented filmmaking auteur working on a limited budget, [writer-director Jeff] Lipsky insists on doing it his way and letting the chips fall where they may. More power to him.”(Stephen Holden, New York Times)