Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: James Sweeney
Starring: Dylan O'Brien, James Sweeney, Aisling Franciosi, Lauren Graham, Susan Park
Like Scarlett Johansson's recent directorial debut Eleanor the Great, writer/director James Sweeney's sophomore feature Twinless revolves around a lie that gets out of control. While it's much more comedic than Johansson's film, Twinless is also significantly darker, which says a lot about Johansson's fumbling of her film's Holocaust theme. The premise of Twinless could easily fuel a thriller, but Sweeney has instead crafted a stalking drama that treats its subject with unexpected nuance and humanity.
The stalker is Dennis, played by the director himself. The stalkee is Roman, played by Dylan O'Brien in the role(s) of his life. When Roman's identical twin Rocky (also played by O'Brien in flashbacks) dies, Roman finds himself lost. Though the two twins were very different personalities (Roman and Rocky are almost stereotypically straight and gay), Roman was utterly dependent on his brother, even confessing at one point that he dreamed of cohabiting with Rocky as a "stay at home twin."
Following his mother's (Lauren Graham) advice, Roman attends a support group for surviving twins; there he encounters Dennis. Just like Roman and Rocky, the gay Dennis had a Yin and Yang relationship with his late, straight twin. The two men become friends and sink into co-dependency once again, each taking the place of the other's lost twin.
I'm compelled to avoid divulging any further plot details, as one of the joys of Twinless is how masterfully Sweeney winds back the clock to reveal what's really at play here. He holds back his opening credits until about 20 minutes into the run time, an act that takes us completely off guard and makes us instantly realise that we've gotten so caught up in the nascent friendship between Roman and Dennis that we're unprepared for the real plot to kick in.
And that plot plays out in riveting fashion. I haven't seen Sweeney's 2019 debut Straight Up, but for a second feature from the indie sphere, Twinless is arrestingly crafted. Sweeney's script is filled with zingers, with Dennis portrayed as an intellectual snob and Roman as a dumb jock ("Moscow, Idaho?" "Do you know any other?"), but it's also visually inventive in ways that enhance its theme. Sweeney uses clever framing to show us how Roman and Dennis are drawn to one another, often using split-screen to bring them together even when they're apart. Conversely he uses space and editing to show how these two men struggle to relate with others. In one bravura moment, a two-shot of Roman and Dennis suddenly splits apart as we follow the two men in two separate split-screen sequences. It's the most audacious move I've seen a filmmaker pull off in some time, and not what you expect from an indie drama.
Unlike most American indie filmmakers, Sweeney isn't willing to settle for the old "walking and talking" format that has dogged the scene since the '90s. Here is a fully fledged filmmaker dedicated to using every tool in his box. But none of Sweeney's visual flourishes are at the expense of his story, rather they enhance it. Every trick is in service of showing us something about his characters and their psychological state. Portland's immersive art experience "Hopscotch" is brilliantly deployed as the backdrop for a meltdown, its psychedelic light show rendered nauseating and suffocating, and there's a striking sequence that sees Dennis surrounded by sets of twins on the street. This is a movie where every other scene could be its own music video.
Sweeney also proves himself an accomplished actor of directors, drawing two revelatory performances from O'Brien. As Roman and Rocky, O'Brien embodies two very different ideas of masculinity, but his performance is so real that neither comes off as cheaply mocking. Early in their friendship, Roman asks the sarcastic Dennis if he can stop belittling him, and O'Brien's delivery instantly changes how we view a character we initially saw as a dumb jock. As Dennis, Sweeney is just as good, switching effortlessly from sympathetic to loathsome, often in a single scene. There are notable turns from the supporting cast too. Aisling Franciosi is given a rare comic role as Dennis's ditzy co-worker, who becomes a third wheel in the central relationship, and proves hilarious while adding subtle depth to the role. Elsewhere Graham adds heart in her brief screen time while Susan Park is a riot as another of Dennis's co-workers.
It's killing me that I can't dig deeper into what makes Twinless so good, but you'll just have to trust me when I say this is one of the most disarmingly original American indies of recent years, and I'm astonished by the lack of awards buzz, or even press in general. Sweeney is one to watch!
