Director Michael Cuesta (“L.I.E.”) films the adolescent subjects of “12 and Holding” with a subtle, affecting sympathy. All three live in a pleasant suburb, in less-than-perfect family situations that could nevertheless be described as normal, but nothing is safe or easy for the headstrong children presented here. The hard part, from the audience’s perspective, is seeing this more than they do.

Through close-ups and naturalistic oblique angles, the viewer develops an intimate bond with the trio of 12-year-olds at the movie’s focus. As the camera brushes up against their shoulders, or peers up at the world from their pre-growth spurt perspective, it seems imperative to rescue these children before they inadvertently do themselves in.

But the audience’s inability to do so makes for a tense, engaging movie experience from which the odd dash of humor offers no release.

Puberty, the tough place the three protagonists have just moved to, is one where strange new forces lead them to act without consequences in mind. Early in the film, a bully’s prank gone awry devastates the family of the reticent Jacob (Connor Donovan) and puts him on a path for revenge. Precocious Malee (Zoe Weizenbaum), who is equally thrilled and baffled by her first period, develops a crush on a construction worker (Jeremy Renner) that might turn unhealthy. And locked in a struggle with a bit less gravitas is pudgy Leonard (Jesse Camacho), who is determined to get in shape despite the stiff resistance of his overweight parents.

The kids are close friends but keep their secrets to themselves, even managing for a while to explore them fruitfully on their own. But when a stolen gun enters their midst, you get the gut-twisting feeling that things will take a turn for the worse.

They do so in a way that’s not entirely satisfying. Leonard’s climactic moment – which comes barreling implausibly out of a grotesquely humorous turn of events – proves hard to swallow, and Jacob’s feels slightly under-explained. But in the end, “12 and Holding” is a compelling, character-driven story of three adolescents, wrapped around an apt critique of the cultural pathogens (sex, violence, and obesity) that threaten to nip them in the bud.

It also calls attention to the poison some adults pass off as good parenting. “Someday when you grow up, you’ll understand,” Jacob’s mother tells him as she carelessly implies she’s given up on him. She is either too myopic or too self-absorbed to re alize that the road to adulthood consists in large part of the parental guidance she gives her son at 12, and she’s not giving him much to work with.

Mr. Cuesta (along with screenwriter Anthony Cipriano, despite his fondness for sharp rejoinders that would never find their way into a child’s mouth) deserves credit for giving innocence a fair chance on screen. Some talented indie filmmakers like to smear films about young people with a crude, willfully adult sensibility: the prurience of Larry Clark’s “Bully,” the cruel irony of Todd Solondz’s “Palindromes,” or even, to a lesser extent, the pretentious strokes that weakened Mr. Cuesta’s provocative debut film, “L.I.E.”

Like the recent Mexican film “Duck Season,” which also examined the insecurities that ground sweet, self-conscious birds of youth, “12 and Holding” has something to gain from letting its talented young performers spread their wings: It is thanks to them that Malee glows with fierce intelligence, Leonard wears a mask of intriguing diffidence, and Jacob’s potent mix of shame and anger keeps the rapt viewer worried sick about his fate.