Twinless is the sort of film that is best to go with as little information as possible and that makes it a rather difficult movie to discuss with anyone that hasn't seen it. I will say that it's hard to think of a movie that shook me and touched me as much as Twinless in a very long time. Sweeney's intricate, provocative, and rather fearless screenplay and direction take us to places I did not expect. Twinless is the sort of film that will haunt you afterward. Without understanding the context, that makes it seem like a different film than it is. But once you have seen it, Twinless is the sort of film that burrows into your mind in both recognizable and uncomfortable ways, and forces you to sit with it.
I'll start with O'Brien, who I believe has always shown a strong talent as an actor that is often belied by his handsomeness. Here he truly shines, as a pair of twins. He embodies both beautifully, in complicated ways. He makes neither a stereotype and he gets deep into each (the one perhaps a bit less as the film spends less time on him).
I will say his performance was one of the most haunting qualities of the film. He is at once both the cliched straight man crush trope that is infused in so much gay culture, and something more deconstructed. O'Brien doesn't allow himself simply to be the desired but unattainable friend that is so problematic in both gay art and in gay culture. He is also seeking something from his relationship with his gay friend that is problematic but relatable. Twinless doesn't allow him to be tokenized or objectified and a big part of that is O'Brien's rich, understated performance that values all parts of Roman, including the less respectable parts.
But it is the central character of Dennis, played so remarkably by writer/director/actor Sweeney, who truly pushes Twinless into the stratosphere. This is one of the most complicated and challenging and problematic characters I have come across in a film recently. I hated him, loved him, resented him, wanted to hold him and tell him everything was going to be okay. I was deeply uncomfortable with anything I saw in him that reminded me of, well... me.
He is queer coded in ways that echo the villainous queer coding of Hollywood's golden era, while simultaneously being profoundly honest about real life gay men and the struggles with socialization, relationships, and existing as a queer man in the 21st century. He finds the complicated places of truth in the ways we hate ourselves, the ways our culture hates us, and takes that into places where we might be able to love ourselves, see value in ourselves. I had quite an emotional rollercoaster with Dennis and there were times I didn't want to be on that ride. I found Rocky also interesting to engage with, as there were a lot of convoluted feelings buried in his character too. Sweeney's boldness in his creation and execution of these characters is striking and just emotionally draining.
Twinless is one of the queerest films I've seen in a while and it reached in, found something raw, and really went with it. I found it cathartic. I wasn't sure it was going to be able to stick the landing as so many films with challenging premises struggle to "wrap up" their stories in satisfying ways, in ways that are intellectually and emotionally honest. With Twinless Sweeney manages to do that in a quietly beautiful way.
I wanted to immediately watch it again upon its conclusion knowing it would be may be even more moving the second time through.
Twinless
Starring: Dylan O'Brien, James Sweeney, Lauren Graham, Aisling Franciosi, Chris Perfetti
Writer/Director: James Sweeney
No comments:
Post a Comment