‘I thought Gen Z was supposed to be nice...’
Dramatic irony, the idea that the audience knows something that characters don’t, can be a tough nut to crack. When done badly, it can be derivative, predictable and repetitive. When done well, however, it can be devastating. In James Sweeney’s Twinless, the audience is always waiting for the other shoe to drop and it makes for a truly captivating viewing experience…
Roman (Dylan O’Brien) and Dennis (Sweeney) meet at a twinless twin support group and bond over the sense of loss they feel about the death of their respective twin brothers. I won’t ruin the terrible truth at the centre of Twinless, but it’s genuinely ingenious, and I spent much of the 100-minute run time watching the action from behind my fingers.
I’d not heard of James Sweeney before watching this film but he is a genuine triple threat here. He delivers a layered performance as the second lead, his screenplay is heartfelt and innovative, and his assured direction holds it all together. Twinless is a film that is often funny, but also genuinely emotionally pulverising at times, and it’s a testament to Sweeney and his cast that he is able to pull off this tonal balancing act without sacrificing any of the film’s credulity or propulsiveness.
Twinless is a unique film, and is also the kind of thing that I can’t imagine anyone not enjoying. The premise is so delicious, the delivery so effective, that Sweeney’s sophomore effort (after 2019’s Straight Up) is utterly irresistible.
