Through the world-weary series The Wire and the jubilant depravity of John Waters – not to mention the countless other films with the Massachusetts location – non-Baltimore residents have seen the troubled U.S. city in so many kinds of light, one wouldn’t think an entirely fresh take on the city could still come to exist. And yet director Lotfy Nathan has given outsiders an insider’s look into the dangerous and oddly poetic world of illegal dirt biking through Baltimore’s streets.
A film three years in the making, Nathan's The 12 O’Clock Boys premiered to positive reviews at this year’s SXSW festival, and has finally been picked up for distribution by Oscilloscope Laboratories, Deadline reports.
“In 12 O’Clock, Lotfy has introduced us to a world so compelling, so foreign, and so relatable all at once,” said Oscilloscope’s Dan Berger. “It’s a portrait of a subculture as much as a window into the state of America, and it’s all in the guise of The Wire by way of Cirque Du Soleil. It’s seriously like nothing you’ve seen before.”
The titular 12 O’Clock boys are a group – but not a gang – of dirtbike riders that tear through Baltimore’s heavily trafficked streets, getting their name from the particular talent of being able to pop onto their back wheel until the bike is completely vertical, like the hands on a clock reaching noon or midnight. Dirtbikes on the streets are illegal due to the likely chances of serious injury or death, but due to a 2009 death involving a chased biker, the police aren’t legally able to go after the young boys, leading them to surveil by helicopters and street corners, waiting to catch the bikers unaware. But Nathan's doc takes viewers into the world of the Boys themselves, proving that though crime does figure into the group in ways, their riding is more an expression of youthful angst and exploratory instincts that the inner city doesn’t afford them. It’s about pride and individualism, but nothing comes without its price, and the film does offer the darker side of the hobby as well.
Oscilloscope, the company founded by late Beastie Boy member Adam Yauch, is probably most well-known for last year’s mass murdering child drama We Need to Talk About Kevin, though they’ve shown up in headlines for their recent Vine video services release of the dark apocalyptic comedy It’s a Disaster.
Nathan seemed keen on the company’s involvement. “Oscilloscope’s great,” he says wryly. “I really hope they don’t fuck this up.”
Not that The 12 O’Clock Boys is finished with a festival run, as the Hot Docs and Full Frame festivals, as well as others, are on the horizon as Oscilloscope plans the films’ theatrical, VOD and DVD releases set for later this year.
