Producers: David Permut and James Sweeney Director: James Sweeney Screenplay: James Sweeney Cast: Dylan O’Brien, James Sweeney, Lauren Graham, Aisling Franciosi, Tasha Smith, Chris Perfetti and Susan Park Distributor: Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate
Grade: B+
The reality that people often aren’t who they seem is at the root of James Sweeney’s sophomore feature, a darkly funny but poignant, indeed tragic, tale of two men who find one another in shared grief.
Take, for instance, Marcie (Aisling Franciosi), an eternally bubbly young woman working in a Los Angeles firm alongside Dennis (Sweeney), one of the film’s main characters. She’s initially made to seem a rather flaky, friendless girl whom Dennis treats like a bit of an irritant when she evinces any concern for him. But when he decides to go to a party at her place, it’s jammed, and everyone there is effusive about what a wonderful person she is. That’s particularly true of Roman (Dylan O’Brien), the new buddy Dennis brings along with him. He and Marcie will, in fact, become a couple.
That’s bad news for Dennis, a lonely, grimly witty gay man who met Roman in a bereavement group for people trying to cope with the deaths of their identical twins. The premise is unusual enough, but made more so by the fashion in which the leader begins the session: by asking each member to reveal something they don’t miss about their lost double. That prompts one attendee (Tasha Smith) to go on quite a sarcastic tear about her departed sibling.
Far more earnest and withdrawn is Roman, the focus in the first segment of the film, shown at the gravesite of his brother Rocky, a free-spirited gay extrovert who, we learn, died in a freak traffic accident. A brawny guy prone to malapropisms and ready to admit he’s not all that smart, with an undercurrent of anger that can suddenly break out in violence, Roman’s come to Portland for the service with his mother Lisa (Lauren Graham), and finds himself inundated with condolences from friends intoxicated by his resemblance to his seductive, charismatic brother. Roman is overwhelmed not so much by their expressions of sadness as by a feeling of profound loneliness over the loss of someone who might have been a completely different person from him but was somehow his anchor to the world in a way that Lisa—a distant, brusque figure with whom he’s always arguing about something—can never be.
The film focuses on Roman—played, along with Rocky in flashbacks, by O’Brien in a dual performance remarkable for its depth and nuance—until the opening credits, when the perspective switches to Dennis, whom Sweeney embodies perfectly with his slouched gawky body and self-deprecating asides. He’s depressed, and so desperate for potential romance that he even asks his boss (Susan Park), for whom discussing anything personal is anathema, for relationship advice (she’s perplexed and dismissive). When he encounters Roman, who in his way is just as emotionally needy, at the group session, they haltingly develop an unlikely, almost brotherly bond, going shopping and having lunches together. Each offers something the other longs for at a moment that’s critical for them both, and they become best friends.
That’s inevitably altered when Marcie enters the picture and a threesome results, in which Dennis is the odd man out. When George (Chris Perfetti), who knew Rocky, is added to the equation as a potential partner for Dennis, the situation becomes even more complicated, for reasons that won’t be revealed here.
It would, in fact, be criminal to say too much about what happens after this setup, because Sweeney has constructed a very clever piece in which expectations are continuously upended and twists that at first seem cringy are transformed into something revelatory even as they sometimes carry an unpleasant shock. To be specific about how he achieves this would ruin things; this is a film best seen without spoilers about its plot mechanisms, so that the surprises can sneak up on you and have their full effect. The reader just has to trust that it’s worth going in without knowing too much beforehand and keeping an open mind.
At the same time they shouldn’t expect too much; “Twinless” is a fine film but not a great one. It sometimes stumbles. But its very awkwardness is part of its strength. O’Brien and Sweeney make a heartbreaking pair, and the supporting cast is excellent. Sweeney’s direction can be a bit flat at times, but periodically he, cinematographer Greg Cotton, production designer Priscilla Elliott and editor Nik Boyanov achieve extraordinary moments of intimacy and emotional rawness. Erin Orr has fashioned costumes that fit the distinct characters flawlessly, and Jung Jae-Il adds a spare score that strikes the right notes of hope and melancholy.
“Twinless” will sometimes make you laugh, occasionally make you squirm, often make you sad, periodically take you aback and always keep you guessing. Despite some flaws it’s an engrossing film.