There’s something about grief that brings people together. Doubly so if it's someone particularly close. Losing a sibling is a difficult thing no matter the circumstances, but the idea of losing a twin is borderline unthinkable. That concept isn’t exactly what most would think to mine for dark comedy/light thriller material, but writer/director James Sweeney (“Straight Up”) has decided to do just that for his second feature film. It’s certainly an interesting concept, and it’ll absolutely go in a direction few will be expecting.
Dylan O’Brien (“The Maze Runner,” “Love and Monsters”) played Roman, a young man mourning the loss of his twin brother Rocky, also played by O’Brien. After he and his mother Lisa, played by Laura Graham (“Gilmore Girls,” “Parenthood (2010)”), clean out Rocky’s apartment, Roman decides to stay there and attend support group meetings for other “twinless” twins. This leads to him meeting Dennis, played by Sweeney, at one of those meetings and the pair hit it off. They go to hockey games and grocery shopping together, however something about Dennis is not what it seems.
Despite being a fairly low-stakes and low-tech independent film, Sweeney manages to wring a lot of dramatic tension from Dennis and his secrets. There’s a distinctive shift early on in the film that results in what came before being viewed in a completely different light. It’s a tricky tonal balance, mining comedy from this kind of tragedy, but it works, and Sweeney’s script is exceptionally sharp. He manages to set up each character remarkably well, showcasing their sadness without pity and giving them each little moments to shine before enveloping them within the others.
O’Brien is absolutely fantastic here, and while this is clearly a double bill opposite Sweeney, he completely steals the show. His few scenes as Rocky as perfect, working the character with broad swings to make a deep and specific impact. Because of that work, we get a great impression of who he was even without spending the whole film with him. His work as Roman is just as impactful. As we hear him describe his brother, the differences between the two become even more apparent as he and Sweeney mine the material for some excellent emotional growth. Roman is clearly not the sharpest bulb in the drawer, and O’Brien rides the line between being an oaf and stupid. At no point does he overplay things to the point of silliness, making him feel like a truly grounded character. It’s a stark and heart wrenching portrayal of sibling love, even outside of the twin concept, and it’s easily some of the finest work O’Brien has ever turned in.
Sweeney is just as excellent, and the tonal shifts the film makes allow for what could be a simple role to something far more interesting. His isn’t as nuanced of a performance as O’Brien’s, but it's nevertheless engrossing to watch. When the two of them as on screen, things are just absolutely fantastic. Graham is also excellent as a grieving mother figure, but she’s only on screen for mere minutes, lessening her impact. Aisling Franciosi (“The Nightingale,” “Black Narcissus”) appears as Dennis’s co-worker Marcie in what could have been a minor role that blossoms thanks to her performance and Sweeney’s script. They take the character and run with her into a twisty evolution that’s completely different from where she begins. She becomes one of the film’s central linchpins and is excellent the whole time.
Sweeney’s script would turn even the most boilerplate, plain film into something twisty and entertaining, but the tight camerawork and musical score help to push it above that. There’s a fantastic sense of depth with cinematographer Greg Cotten (“The Thinning: New World Order,” “Straight Up”) and he plays constantly with high angles and distant voyeuristic shots. A segment at a party in the middle of the film cements itself almost immediately with a fantastic usage of split screen that punctuates a turn in the film as a whole and in the individual scene. Meanwhile Jung Jae-il's (“Parasite,” “Squid Game”) musical score is far more inventive than one might expect for a movie like this, standing out in each scene and propping up the events as they unfold with an off-kilter electronic beat.
“Twinless” is a film that would likely skirt right underneath the radar of most audience members but absolutely shouldn’t. This sharply funny, dark comedy manages to kick itself into the zeitgeist thanks to its wonderful technical merits and performances, with O’Brien standing out as a highlight of the film and his entire career. It makes full use of an oddball premise and shows that Sweeney’s first film wasn’t a fluke. He’s a writer/director/actor talent that should be here to stay. 4.5/5
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