Two men connect at a support group for those who lost their twins in the brilliant comedy-drama Twinless from writer-director-star James Sweeney.
Twinless was the last film I saw at this year’s Seattle International Film Festival, the 51st iteration of my local fest (it may be local to me, but it’s one of the larger ones out there). Of the fifty or so films and shorts watched at this year’s festival, Twinless is one of the best, second only to Sorry Baby. I’ve been dying to talk about it since then; you can find the 75-word capsule version of this review from June, but now Twinless has been theatrically released, I can gush with a larger ability.
The basics of Twinless: two men meet at a support group for people who have lost their twin. Roman and Dennis are very different, a mismatched friendship that grows out of their shared grief and loneliness. Their closest connection gone, the built-in best friend, as the film’s parlance would have it, they fill the void with one another, growing and shifting, grieving and loving, with the ups and downs of a new, unexpected friendship.
While some of the ups and downs, reveals, and connections, how things play out may be expected if you’ve ever seen a film before, Sweeney approaches the material with a comforting ease. He has perfect control over his excellent script, as well as how he films and edits, along with the keen performances from himself, Dylan O’Brien, and Aisling Franciosi. Sweeney imbues a strong sense of reality and genuine love for these characters, and it transfers it to the audience. I felt for them all deeply. When the rug is pulled out from under the audience and the characters’ feet several times, it’s affecting. There are several rug pulls, some of them shocking and “oh wait, what?”, and Sweeney does so with a poignancy and sometimes heartbreak. But it’s also a very funny movie in surprising ways; I’d shy from saying “dark comedy” but there is a humor in sadness. So incredibly sad, but that’s true of life, darkness hides behind a smile and a glib comment. It’s a film of how we process grief into mistakes, issues, and truths, doubling down in our conflicted world.
Sweeney bears his heart and soul in Twinless. It’s a film of loss and moving on. It’s terrible to lose someone close to you, but what about the person who has literally been there from birth? We all have regrets about a friend or family member that we’ve drifted from, and when they’re gone permanently, it’s a closure-less loss, made all the more painful in the closeness of a twin. Twinless is only James Sweeney’s second film, but he has the amazing acuity of a veteran. He did win the Golden Space Needle Director’s Award at SIFF after all, along with the Grand Jury for Drama prize at Sundance.
Along with writing and directing, Sweeney also stars as Dennis. It’s a fascinating performance. He’s unsure, and seemingly uncomfortable in his own skin, unable to settle into being a person, and Sweeney plays him with a lived-in comfort. Close to life? Maybe. I make no conjecture on Sweeney’s own personality, but whether playing a wholly new character or a version of himself (write what you know), he does so well, with the help of Dylan O’Brien as Roman. The pair shares off-the-charts chemistry.
Roman is just as strong a character, dealing with his loss in his own way. In a twist of writers tending to focus on witty, sly characters, Roman is written as a self-aware, dumb man. but never as a punchline; he knows his not too bright, and O’Brien can play the thicker and slower Roman without simplifying the depth of the character within. It’s honestly one of my favorite performances of the year. I felt like crying every time I saw his expression of unsure hurt and loss. He’s a man struggling with grief and emotion, and how to maintain through it all. O’Brien also plays his lost other half, deceased twin Rocky, in flashback. As identicals, this is obvious, but he’s so good I legitimately thought for a moment a different actor was cast. An aside, Lauren Graham plays the pair’s mother; she’s not in much of the movie, but I loved to see her.
Between them is Marcie, played by Aisling Franciosi. She’s a receptionist the aloof Dennis connects to at work, and Roman also meets and connects with personally. A character that could be an annoying manic-pixie-dream-girl sort in a weaker film, she’s endearing. She’s not just a plot device, used to wedge the men or create conflict, but a fully realized person. Franciosi is similarly fantastic as the men, a glue to hold it all together. It’s nice to see Franciosi in a non-horrific film after Stopmotion, Speak No Evil, and The Nightingale.
The editing is standout and has to be talked about. The flow of conversations and ideas as Sweeney shifts characters but keeps the thought going is a strength of the flow and the writing to back it. This isn’t the “strangely pause a conversation to a new location” often seen in film and TV or a continued conversation in real life, but a smooth flow of connected dialogue, deepening the film and characters. It’s fascinating how Sweeney and editor Nik Boyanov put it all together. Kudos on the writing for making it all connect naturally. It all has a complexity that fits together like a jigsaw.
Twinless is one of the year’s best films that is likely to slip under most people’s radars. A strong comedy with dramatic oomph from a heartbreaking reasoning for the depth of characters. Sweeney has all the makings of a new grand voice to cinema.