REVIEW: ‘Twinless’ by James Sweeney

Hello cinema lovers, who here has not longed for that one unattainable love?  That perfect soul mate? The person that completes you. James Sweeney, who is writer, director and one of the main actors delves into this thorny issue in his new dark, complex comedy gem Twinless, which he co-stars in with Dylan O’Brien (of Teen Wolf fame).

It takes a director of considerable talent and confidence to create a movie which is sexy, hilarious , deep and ominous but that is the tale we have here. 

Quiet Dennis (James Sweeney) is a loner, living a mostly solitary, low key life in Portland, USA. A chance meeting with the charismatic Rocky (O'Brien), leads to a wonderful, sexy, intoxicating and life affirming night together.

Dylan O’Brien commits to the role of Rocky with wild sexual abandon. He's a handsome actor who clearly has no problem taking his clothes off and showing off his considerable assets and muscular frame for the sake of a role, he’s hot.

The scenes with Rocky and Dennis are easily the hottest sex scenes I've seen in mainstream cinema this year, Pillion take note. But all is not what it seems and soon Dennis’s desire wants more, leading to desperation and poor choices.

This is a movie about modern masculine isolation and how men long for connection and none seem to need it more than Dennis.

Enter Roman, the straight twin of Rocky also played by O’Brien, and we are introduced into a cat and mouse game of desire and deception that is teasing, tantalising and twisted. 

Sweeney is fantastic as love lorn Dennis here, shades of Robin Williams loner in One Hour Photo and Matt Damon’s obsessive in The Talented Mr Ripley, a top class performance, but he's generous enough a director to let Dylan O'Brien have the space to show his chops, his Roman is a beautifully constructed character, sad, desolate, beautiful, in other words totally irresistible, this is a real career moment for O'Brien.

The opposing dual roles of gay twin Rocky and straight twin Roman are played by O'Brien with total conviction. Rocky's sexy swagger and cynical charm, Roman’s lost puppy dog expressions and angry outburst really make you see one actor playing two totally different people.

The best movies don't hand you the plot on a plate and Twinless tries hard to twist and turn the narrative and keeps you off guard with several surprises, using hard cuts and red herrings to keep you laughing, shocked and on tenterhooks to see where the characters go next. The director shows a real flare in bringing colour and light into the movie to evoke emotion, perspective and romance. The constant use of mirrors and reflections to invoke projection is also a stand out aspect here. 

This movie also has a fantastic set of actors bringing in keen supporting performances: the handsome Francois Arnaud (Heated Rivalry) makes a big impression as a blind date for Dennis, a thirsty vision in denim and chest hair, almost worth the price of entry alone. The wonderful Aisling Francoisi (The Fall) is bewitching as the ditzy but clever Marcie, watch with glee as the wheels turn behind her sweet exterior to reveal a steel inside. The wonderful Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls) proves yet again that she is a huge asset to any production she appears in with a concise and heartfelt portrait of grief.

Have I mentioned this movie is funny? There's a dark seam of bleak comedy running through this tale, characters endure toe curling run-ins to powerful comedic effect, this is never done via farce, life is very, very funny and James Sweeney knows how to mine it. This is an unlikely date movie too; love hurts but this movie is about love and longing

The ending is deliberately left with an ambiguous air and the movie is all the better for it. Redemption is possible but do the characters receive it? I'll not say but you leave the cinema satisfied that the character arcs of these men are sufficiently explored and satisfactorily parked.

Coming to the big screen on 6 February, recommend. Check out this wonderful movie from a talented gay director exploring themes that affect us all in the modern world, whoever you are. Bravo all round.