Directed By James Sweeney

Starring – Dylan O’Brien, James Sweeney, Lauren Graham

The Plot – Two young men meet in a twin support group and form an unlikely friendship. Roman (Dylan O’Brien) and Dennis (James Sweeney) both search for solace and an identity without their other halves and soon become inseparable outside the group. But when Roman meets Dennis’ ebullient co-worker, Marcie (Aisling Franciosi), all is revealed to be not what it seems, as each man harbors secrets that could unravel everything.

Rated R for sexual content/nudity and adult language.

TWINLESS | Official Trailer | In Theaters September 5

POSITIVES

While I typically always try to approach a movie with as little attained knowledge as possible about it before I see it, that urgency to the audience doubles with “Twinless”, a contortionist of a film from Sweeney that manages to materialize and evolve into something bigger and emotionally significant, with each passing scene, all the while conjuring one of the most authentically raw and poignantly layered stories pertaining to grief that I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying. It attains this from the naturalistically nuanced ways that Sweeney not only outlines his characters, with their everyday battles with grief, to which none of them have a firm grasp on, but also the elasticity of the tone, which allows this film unfiltered access to transcend throughout as many as four different genres, all within the depths of an airtight 95-minute runtime without any of the excessive slack needing to be trimmed within the finished product. Despite the direction constantly shifting things up tonally and atmospherically, in ways that mirror the realities of Roman’s rocky road to resolution, it’s actually one of the most meticulously managed at this aspect that I’ve experienced, and that firm control over the naturalistic elements helps to maintain authenticity within the depths of his characters and their respective conflicts, with the thick kind of wallowing melancholy for these characters that makes you want to give them a warm hug, but also the sardonically dark humor that acts as a litmus test for those in the audience being dared to flinch with punchlines that subtly sneak up on you in the most twisted kind of ways. Sweeney’s grasp on the material allows the script to tap into rare connection attained from the unique dynamic of having a twin, but beyond that maintains a compelling outline throughout a series of unforeseen twists that reshape the narrative in the most cleverly rewarding kind of methods, attaining stakes and sympathy to an inevitable confrontation that does pack such a profoundly devastating punch during the movie’s climax, all the while further articulating complexity in the air of the flawed characters, in ways that ground them with the kind of relatable humanity that films don’t often risk with an adoring audience. Because grief shapes them in the most unflattering versions of themselves, almost to the point of this nearly becoming a psychological thriller within the depths of its discoveries, the value of the surmising bond between Roman and Dennis feels all the more endearing, despite a secret between them that continuously hangs overhead, and with the benefit of some charming dialogue featuring the kind of suavely executed personality that casually persists without the conversations feeling scripted with the kind of distracting artificiality of fictional renderings that constantly remind audiences of the dialogue being written by someone uninvolved off-screen. But even despite a film very much in touch with its own vulnerabilities and thick emotionality, Sweeney still finds time to dazzle radiance to the appeal of the presentation, both with some creatively elaborate framing devices featuring split screen captures for its dual protagonists, as well as psychologically immersive intimacy in the cinematography from Greg Cotten, that visually feels like the authentic manifestation externally of what grief feels like internally. Cotten directly slices through the preconceived reservations of what a dramedy should present itself as, combining a lot of intimate framing techniques from isolated or submerging perspectives that features callously weathered color grading, intentionally, all in order to craft a lingering subconscious to the otherwise uplifting and therapeutic interactions between Roman and Dennis, and though it artistically feeds into the interpretation of the audience, prescribing inescapable insight to Roman’s everyday realities, it never sacrifices the appeal of the audience who willingly immerse themselves in this universal language of love and loss, eliciting something that is every bit artistically earnest, but in ways that correspond coherently with the consistencies of the unpredictable world that Sweeney has mustered with the kind of unfiltered honesty that sneaks up on you in the most entertaining of methods imaginable. Speaking of Sweeney, it would be a grave disservice to brush past the intoxicating performances from him, Dylan O’Brien, and even Aisling Franciosi, all of whom carry integral significance towards maintaining accessibility and acceptance to these characters, even when their irresponsible actions sometimes complicate that objective. O’Brien gives what is undoubtedly the best performance of his career to this point, featuring unbridled intensity during emotional outbursts that effortlessly allow you to feel the pain, regret, and angst of Roman’s fiery remorsefulness, in between a majority of moments that feature his endless charisma, and while Sweeney’s turn as Dennis doesn’t feature the climactic range of elevated emotionality, there is a nagging heft of humility that effectively articulates the burdens of the character, allowing Roman and Dennis to feel like two completely different sides of grief’s impact, despite them each bonded by the same personal traumas. As for Franciosi, I’ve been in love with her since her firestorm of a debut in “The Nightingale”, but here she seamlessly disappears into the depths of the bubbly perky and vivacious Marcie, who intentionally but undistractedly chews as much atmospheric scenery, each time the story weaves her back into frame. While Marcie could easily come across as annoying or intrusive to some audience members, I found her endearing on account of Franciosi’s unblemished commitment to the character, featuring a faithfully consistent English accent for the Irish actress that bounces feverishly off of everyone she comes into contact with, all enamored by the dependably radiant smile that elicits such a warm and glowing optimism of hope to a world enveloped by grief.

NEGATIVES

This is undoubtedly the kind of original and daring movie that is right up my alley of personal preference, however I can see some challenging aspects with the execution possibly conflicting to certain audiences, particularly the decisions of the movie’s opening act, which required more patience than expected towards putting the motions of the plot in action. While the first of the film’s three twists does materialize around the movie’s fifteen minute mark, the moments before that revelation in the script balance between character backstory and a major focus shift that takes some time to coherently decipher just what the film is attempting, and while it didn’t produce overwhelmingly problematic conflict to my interpretation, I can see it being a bit confusingly overwhelming for those who aren’t following along faithfully throughout, especially with some vivid sex sequences featuring gay lovers that felt a bit over-the-top in their depiction. While I personally don’t have a problem seeing LGBTQ love depicted on-screen, as it’s a reality of our own world, I felt the visuals involved indulged a bit more tastelessly to evoke the shocking element of their capture, and even if Sweeney’s intention was to use it comically influence a tonal shift between respective timelines, I felt that it lingered on the depiction a bit longer than necessary, earning every inch (For lack of a better word) of the aforementioned R-rating, but not in ways that I truly felt enhanced the appeal of the film. In addition to this, my only other problem with the film pertained to the lack of involvement with Lauren Graham’s character, which not only plagued her arc as the mother of Roman and his deceased brother with unresolve, but also wasted away a chance for her to hold her own against a trio of three-dimensional performances that were previously mentioned. I can certainly understand that this is not her movie, or one that invests much about the conflicts that she is feeling as an ailing mother, but I just found it glossed over abruptly in ways that subtly left a strange irresponsibility to scenes involving her, especially with a tumultuous dynamic between her and Roman that merely tips the iceberg of the movie’s sporadic focus during her moments.

OVERALL
“Twinless” bravely and boldly revels in the devastating darkness and confining loneliness of life-altering grief, as seen through the bond of an emerging bromance built on unforeseen secrets that unloads one jaw-dropping revelation after the other. While the film takes some time to eventually find its maintained momentum, it does eventually tug on your heart and tickle your tummies with compassionately earnest performances and caustically dry humor that helps keep the atmosphere accessible, all the while subtly evoking a sentimentally meaningful chapter to gay cinema that helps bridge the gap of cultural divide of a real world that isn’t half as understanding or empathetic as the one featured in the film.

My Grade: 9.0 or A