James Sweeney’s Twinless is a movie that performs with notion — each our personal and that of its characters — turning grief into one thing slippery, generally comical, and infrequently deeply unsettling. It forces us to reckon with grief in all its varieties, whether or not mourning a misplaced beloved one or grieving the life that may have been. This can be a movie about twinhood and the distinctive, irreplaceable bond it entails, but in addition about what occurs when that bond is severed, leaving solely reminiscences behind. With a pointy script and a mesmerizing twin efficiency from Dylan O’Brien, who seamlessly inhabits the vastly completely different personalities of Roman and Rocky, Twinless manages to be each tender and biting, a meditation on loss in an period the place identification has by no means been extra fluid — or extra simply manipulated.
Sweeney, who writes, directs, produces, and co-stars, crafts a story that’s as a lot about deception as it’s about grief. The movie follows Roman (O’Brien), whose twin brother, Rocky, has not too long ago died in a tragic automotive accident. On the funeral, a violinist struggles to carry a tune, a fast, darkly comedian second that units the movie’s offbeat tone. Everybody feedback on how a lot Roman seems like his brother, a sentiment that lands someplace between banal and existentially terrifying. Untethered and emotionally adrift, he begins attending a bereavement group for twins, the place he meets Denis (Sweeney), an equally lonely younger man who claims to have misplaced his personal twin. They type an instantaneous and intense bond, orbiting one another in a manner that feels comforting however more and more uneasy.
Twinless shouldn’t be a movie that fingers you its story in a neat, linear vogue. There’s one thing about Denis that doesn’t fairly match — an uncanny familiarity, a secret urgent simply beneath his pores and skin. With out spoiling an excessive amount of, let’s simply say that his motivations aren’t precisely what they appear, and his connection to Rocky is much extra difficult than Roman realizes. The way in which Sweeney constructions this revelation is deft, permitting the viewers to slowly piece collectively the reality whilst Roman stays at midnight. It’s a movie that trusts its viewers, rewarding shut consideration with delicate visible and narrative cues that solely develop richer upon reflection.
Comedy as a Survival Mechanism
Twinless
- Launch Date
-
January 23, 2025
- Runtime
-
100 Minutes
- Director
-
James Sweeney
- Writers
-
James Sweeney
- Producers
-
David Permut, Ali Jazayeri, Elizabeth Destro, Miky Lee, Dylan O’Brien
- Dylan O’Brien offers an unimaginable twin efficiency.
- A surprisingly humorous and witty movie that can be insightful into grief and loss.
- Sweeney makes use of his aesthetic to cleverly depict male loneliness and the impact of twins.
Considered one of Twinless’ best strengths is its skill to steadiness humor with melancholy. The script is razor-sharp, crammed with understated, observational humor that by no means undercuts the emotional stakes. On the twin bereavement group, one attendee makes ill-timed jokes, highlighting the awkward absurdity of communal grief. There’s a second involving an Olson twins reference that’s so sudden, but so completely positioned, it lingers lengthy after the credit roll. The humor doesn’t exist to make grief extra palatable; somewhat, it serves to focus on how absurd and inescapable grief will be.
Associated
Sundance 2025 Preview: The Finest Films & Largest Stars
Check out the 40 most anticipated or attention-grabbing movies coming to the Sundance Movie Pageant in Jan. 2025.
After which there are the pop-tarts. A seemingly throwaway second — Roman consuming a single pop-tart, one thing we later be taught was a uncommon incidence in his twin-filled previous — turns into a quiet, devastating piece of visible storytelling. Sweeney excels at discovering these small cinematic particulars that say every little thing about his characters without having to over-explain.
A Up to date Strategy to Cinematography and Sound
Visually, Twinless is hanging. The cinematography is rigorously constructed, typically putting Denis in frames inside frames, emphasizing his sense of disconnection. On the actual midway level of the movie, an uncommon visible sequence marks a shift, taking part in with time and reminiscence in a manner that feels each disorienting and deeply intentional. The movie isn’t simply telling a narrative — it’s visually embodying Denis and Roman’s fractured emotional state.
Sound design additionally performs a vital position, subtly guiding us by way of Roman’s shifting psychological panorama. Conversations fade out and in relying on his stage of engagement, and moments of silence hit more durable than any rating might. There are occasions once we, the viewers, are totally included in a dialog, and instances once we are held at a distance, compelled to expertise the isolation Roman feels.
Associated
Dylan O’Brien’s Finest Film Flopped on the Field Workplace
This Dylan O’Brien sci-fi film from 2020 has a 94% contemporary score on Rotten Tomatoes. So why did not anyone go see it in theaters?
After which, after all, there’s the late opening credit — a uncommon, however efficient selection that permits the viewers to settle into the world earlier than formally being launched to what’s really happening. Like the remainder of Twinless, it’s a selection that feels intentional, earned, and refreshing in a cinematic panorama that always depends too closely on exposition.
Grief, Identification, and the Uncanny Valley of the Self
Being a twin is a singular expertise, one which many people won’t ever totally perceive. It’s the closest human equal to being born with a built-in mirror — somebody who displays you, who amplifies you, who exists alongside you in a manner nobody else can. Shedding that mirror is a type of existential fracture. Roman’s grief, although repressed, seeps into every little thing he does. He avoids dealing with it, simulating Rocky’s presence in his life in a manner that mirrors the logic of video video games — if he doesn’t course of the loss, possibly it hasn’t actually occurred.
Associated
How Dylan O’Brien Grew to become Dan Aykroyd for Saturday Night time
O’Brien spoke about taking part in Aykroyd within the SNL film and mentioned Caddo Lake, his twisty new thriller produced by M. Night time Shyamalan.
Sweeney’s movie loops in circles, actually and figuratively, utilizing visible and narrative repetition to evoke the cyclical nature of grief. Frames inside frames entice Roman in moments of reflection, and delicate shifts in cinematography delineate when he’s totally current and when he’s dissociating. The movie even performs with the thought of a twinless world on a grander scale — by way of digital manipulation. Photoshop turns into a metaphor for loneliness, for a way simple it’s to create an alternate actuality when the true one is simply too painful to bear.
After which there’s Denis. His presence in Roman’s life is each soothing and unsettling, a stand-in for one thing misplaced, but undeniably not what was misplaced. Denis’ desperation to take care of their bond, to maintain Roman shut, faucets into one thing deeper: the male loneliness epidemic. Twinless understands the quiet, aching absence that lingers in modern friendships, notably amongst males, and the way simply it could possibly tip into codependency, or one thing darker.
Male Loneliness and the Emotional Repression Epidemic
Twinless is, at its core, a movie concerning the modern disaster of male intimacy. American unbiased cinema has lengthy explored themes of male alienation (First Reformed, Manchester by the Sea). Sweeney, although, brings a uniquely modern perspective, tapping into the actual taste of detachment present in a digital world the place identification is malleable and loneliness is ever-expanding. The connection between Roman and Denis is an exaggerated however painfully acquainted portrait of male friendship — fraught with unstated feelings, constructed on actions somewhat than verbalized emotions. Twinless means that male loneliness isn’t nearly an absence of connection, however concerning the concern of actually being seen.
Sweeney’s personal efficiency as Denis is a revelation — his comedic timing makes the character’s extra unsettling moments land with unnerving appeal. Dylan O’Brien, in the meantime, delivers one in every of his most nuanced performances, taking part in Roman with a restraint that permits the movie’s most painful moments to land with out over-explanation. His efficiency is a testomony to the facility of subtlety; he permits the viewers to take a seat in Roman’s feelings somewhat than force-feeding them.
Associated
The ten Finest Films About Grown-Up Siblings
These 10 movies give a bit perception into the realities of reaching maturity with brothers and sisters.
Aisling Franciosi, greatest identified for her harrowing efficiency in The Nightingale, brings a completely completely different vitality to Twinless as Marcie, Denis’ emotionally clever and compassionate colleague who additionally turns into Roman’s love curiosity. In a movie that largely revolves round male grief and deception, Marcie is a breath of contemporary air — an anchor of readability and heat. Whereas many feminine love pursuits in male-focused tales operate as little greater than narrative units, Marcie is a completely realized character who holds Roman accountable for his anger and sees by way of Denis’ manipulations. Franciosi’s efficiency is modest but important, grounding Twinless with a quiet knowledge that makes her one of many movie’s most compelling presences.
A Reflection on Loss and the Seek for That means
The ultimate frames of Twinless depart us with no simple solutions. The movie means that grief shouldn’t be one thing to be solved, nor one thing that may be changed with a brand new connection. The must be identified — to be witnessed — is prime to the human expertise, however Twinless asks us to contemplate what occurs when that need clouds our skill to actually see others.
Associated
20 Films That Precisely Painting Grief
From animated adventures to darkish deep-dives on human emotion, listed below are 20 movies that precisely painting grief.
Sweeney has crafted a movie that feels distinctly modern but timeless in its themes. Twinless speaks to a era raised on digital identities, the place it’s simple to control actuality, however tough to type significant bonds. It’s about how loss reshapes identification, how grief refuses to be linear, and the way the echoes of these we love linger lengthy after they’re gone.
Because the late credit roll — one other uncommon and intentional cinematic selection — one factor turns into clear: Twinless isn’t just a movie about dropping a twin. It’s a movie concerning the insufferable loneliness of being the one left behind. Twinless screened on the Sundance Movie Pageant and can display once more on Feb. 1, 2025, and can be obtainable to observe on-line by way of Feb. 2. Discover extra data right here.