Twinless is directed by James Sweeney who previously directed Straight Up (2019). 

Twinless was a huge surprise for me, all that I knew about this film is it got rave reactions at Sundance (I’m mad that I missed it there) and that Dylan O’Brien gave an incredible performance. I’m happy to say that I’m joining the choir on both of these, this is a dark comedy that hits a home run very early on and keeps going from there. 

The performances all around are fantastic, the number one thing you are going to hear when someone talks about this film is Dylan O’Brien’s performance and that is completely justified. O’Brien gives not only one of the best performances of the year but the best performance of his career. How he’s able to balance the comedic moments with the dramatic ones is truly fascinating, his character Roman has this added character development that keeps him from the audience disliking him. We see him have this sense of confidence even when the words don’t really match said confidence. It’s a fantastic performance that shines the whole way through the film. 

James Sweeney (who also wrote, directed and produced the film) as Dennis is also quite fantastic here as well. He perfectly captures someone who yearns for closeness without wanting to build a connection first, he wants it all there readily available to him as soon as he starts to talk with someone. Sweeney does a fantastic job of portraying this flawed character that the audience still has empathy for since it’s established early on both him and Roman lost their twins. It’s especially evident with Dennis we see the scenes of him yearning for a connection, it’s something we all want connection but that sort of thing takes time to build into something powerful. Sweeney does a fantastic job of showcasing how messy and sort of unhinged that rushing a connection can be. 

The writing is incredibly well done, it flows very well and has this sort of electrifying energy to it that feels natural. There’s a lot of themes going on here some of which I already touched on, of course there’s the theme of losing your twin or someone in general. As I said before that’s established early on in the film and while it’s done pretty quickly it’s still very well done and explored. It’s what kickstarters Dennis’s whole yearning connection sort of deal, the sense of loneliness is also present which I’ve said before in some of my other reviews that has always fascinated me and that’s no exception here. The sense of loneliness comes from Dennis’s character you can tell through his actions of being desperate there’s this feel of loneliness following him and eating him up, it’s something that truly never goes away and only gets bigger as the film goes on. 

Then there’s having empathy for messy and flawed characters which I’ve said James Sweeney does such a fantastic job of creating. He makes these characters feel incredibly real, he doesn’t make these characters cartoonishly unlikable or doesn’t make it feel forced. He does this in such a quiet yet strategically done manner that it ends up shocking the viewer at certain points. 

Finally there’s the direction from James Sweeney which is beautifully done, he’s able to masterfully balance the dark comedy and the drama, mix all of the themes I just mentioned and create something unhinged yet beautiful in this strange sense. It helps that the directing is very exciting, Sweeney is quite clearly passionate about what he’s sharing to the viewer and that really shows as soon as the film begins. 

Overall Twinless is one of the best films of the year that has excellent performances, clever writing and wonderful directing. James Sweeney is certainly a director to look out for, go see this one if you have the chance. 

Twinless releases in theaters Friday

9/10 A