'12'

The power of the scenes lies in the actors, as 12 players essentially take the stage. Here, a troika of singular performances anchor the film -- Sergei Makovetsky as the businessman who casts the first dissenting vote and is the first to expose his own redemption story; Sergei Gazarov as the Caucasus-born surgeon whose history proves unexpectedly explosive and compelling; and Sergey Garmash as the racist cab driver who battles the others and the many indignities of his life until the end.

Early on in the deliberations, a sparrow flies in through a broken window to escape the cold. As the men argue, we occasionally catch sight of the sparrow, hear the beating of his wings as he searches for a way out. The final vote is taken, the jury begins to disassemble, each going his separate way. Someone notices the sparrow, and opens a window to set him free. A metaphor, no doubt, for an innocent's struggle in a harsh world, because nothing in the director's hands feels random.

There is an unnerving and hopefully implausible twist at the end, but for the most part, Mikhalkov's "12" is magnetic, a 2008 Oscar nominee in the early rounds of the foreign language competition. The men are just as angry as they were in Lumet's day and the debate as passionately raucous as Russian literary tradition would demand.

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betsy.sharkey@latimes.com

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'12'

MPAA rating: PG-13

for violent images,

disturbing content,

thematic material, brief sexual and drug references, and smoking.

Running time: 2 hours, 33 minutes. Russian with English subtitles.

Playing: Laemmle's Royal Theatre, 11523 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles,

(310) 477-5581; Laemmle's Playhouse 7, 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 844-6500; Laemmle's Town Center 5, 17200 Ventura Blvd., Encino, (818) 981-9811; Edwards West Park 8,

3755 Alton Parkway, Irvine, (949) 622-8609.