Roman (Dylan O’Brien) has lost his twin brother Rocky (also Dylan O’Brien, naturally). Aggravated by the reaction of his mother and of Rocky’s friends who struggle to deal with his ghostly resemblance to their dead friend, Rocky seeks out a support group for twins who have lost their siblings. There he meets Dennis (Writer/Director James Sweeney), a shy gay man with whom he strikes an unlikely friendship. But all is not as it seems and soon Dennis finds himself resorting to increasingly desperate measures to keep his dark secret from Roman.
At the heart of Twinless is a darkly comic and politically subversive twist. As Roman forges a closer relationship with Dennis we expect him to find refuge from toxic masculinity in a safe queer space, allowing him to discover new ways of expressing himself and coping with the anger and grief that is isolating him from his family. But resisting and subverting the bland supportive queer friend stereotype, Dennis is revealed to be just as damaged and potentially harmful as Roman, playing with audience sympathies as he is nearly exposed.
The erotic sequence that forms the foundation of Dennis’ narrative and a great deal of his motivation is exciting and beautiful. It helps rationalise the desperation that characterises his later actions. Sweeney manages a unique twist on the duplicitous and cunning schemer without compromising audience sympathy. As director, Sweeney utilises repetition in subtle visual and dialogue cues to build meaning and demonstrate the evolution and deepening of their relationship over time.
O’Brien succeeds in the always tricky task of humanising the angry young man. Despite Roman’s short fuse, his wellbeing forms the emotional stakes of the film, making it crucial that the audience invests in his journey away from isolation. The purity of the friendship exists in beautiful comedic and dramatic tension with the obsessive, and perhaps predatory, ambitions of one of its participants. Completing the main cast, Aisling Franciosi enters this unbalanced dynamic as a genuinely funny and complex chaotic force, testing the budding friendship and Dennis’ commitment to his lie.
At it’s centre, Twinless is exploring the nature of friendship and whether relationships build on lies can still serve a useful function for it’s participants, well-trodden ground for comedy films. Familiar beats are hit and the audience knows that eventually the truth will out. Where this film excels is in it’s stylish subversion of genre tropes, it’s showcase of three fabulous performances, it’s wonderful use of tension and in it’s earnest exploration of a toxic friendship can serve, albeit temporarily, to disrupt the patterns of characters trapped in cycles of destructive behaviour.
Four Stars
TWINLESS can be seen in UK and Irish cinemas from 6th February 2025.
For cinemas visit: https://bit.ly/m/twinlessfilm / PARK CIRCUS