I’ve mentioned I’ll occasionally post reviews of gay themed movie here. I just saw “Twinless”, a movie I can recommend.
I first heard about it a few months ago when it played at the Sundance Film Festival. Lead actor Dylan O'Brien got great reviews. During the festival, a controversy occurred when clips and GIFs of O'Brien were leaked (nudity and gay sex scenes). The movie also got strong positive reviews (it currently has a 98% score at Rotten Tonstoes with 83 reviews).
The story is odd. O'Brien plays Roman, a twin whose brother Rocky has died. He feels like he’s lost half of himself and he goes to a self-help group to try to deal with his grief.
Dylan O’Brian is terrific. He plays both the Roman the surviving twin, who is straight, and Rocky who was gay. O’Brian’s scenes as he grieves for his brother are painful to watch. And he created a very different and believable performance of the dead gay twin in flashbacks.
The crux of the story is that, at the therapy group (for twins grieving for a dead twin), Roman meets Dennis, another guy grieving for a lost one. They form a bond which helps Roman deal with his issues.
But Dennis is lying…
It’s difficult to say what I think of actor James Sweeney, who plays Dennis and also directed the movie. As the story progresses, Dennis’ lies get bigger and, if discovered, would be very cruel to Roman, I found myself disliking the Dennis more and more. Sweeney was a largely expressionless face - which is probably good for a character who is lying. His eyes are very dark, and it’s difficult to distinguish the iris from the pupil. This makes it even harder to interpret his expressions. Is all of that good acting? (Since I liked the movie, he must be a good director!)
With most movies, you know exactly how they will end. But as I watched Twinless, I had no idea how it would be resolved. The situation becomes stressful because of how big the lie becomes. When the truth is out, you know there will be anger… but how much? I felt the ending worked.
Earlier I mentioned the leaked sex scene. Some gay sex (2 positions), lots of gay kissing early, and one straight sex scene. (O’Brian as a cute butt.)
Here’s the trailer:
NOTE: A recent review at Variety called the movie a “bromance” which is very strange. The character Dennis is a creepy stalker. Would they have called a movie about a guy stalking a woman, a romance?
I also found a review write after the Sundance screening. It called the movie a black comedy. Wow! I found nothing about the story funny.
So while I liked the movie, my interpretation is certainly different than others.
