Twinless

Grade: A

Twinless. What a great title, for more than one reason, not all of which occurred to me immediately. There’s so much I shouldn’t lay out here – and what I will tell you, alone, could have made its own interesting movie. But it has so much more in store. I heard there was a twist. I thought I could predict it. I was wrong. This is a heartbreaking, hypnotic, absorbing, impressive achievement from…let me go look up who directed. James Sweeney is the writer/director. That name sounds familiar. Oh – he’s in the cast, too. He plays Dennis. Even now, I’m becoming aware of significant pieces of information.

We meet Roman (Dylan O’Brien, who played Dan Aykroyd in Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night), who is reeling from the death of his twin brother Rocky. O’Brien also plays Rocky, who we see in flashbacks. Roman has been attending a support group for twins whose “other half” has passed. Here, he meets Dennis (Sweeney), who often speaks of his lost brother Dean. Dennis is gay. Rocky was gay. Roman is not gay. Dennis and Roman bond, but not in any direction I thought it might have gone – like in Of an Age or Call Me By Your Name. They become grocery shopping buddies, and spark up a touching bro friendship as they help each other grieve.

This, by itself, could have already made a great movie, and once we get additional discoveries, I can see how it could have devolved into something like a rote, by-the-numbers thriller, or one of the many gloomy pensive indie dramas. I can also imagine the easy temptation for a writer/director/actor to create a piece of work like this, so he can cast himself as both very different brothers. On a few levels, it’s extremely intriguing that James Sweeney, the singlehanded creator of Twinless, gave himself the role he did. Throughout Twinless, he shows a mastery behind the camera, in front of it, and on the page. There’s tension and budding excitement in the exposition, when we just know it’s building to something, but we don’t know what yet. I felt the same way during the first half of Sinners.

Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls and Bad Santa is aging like a fine wine. She’s effective and powerful as Roman/Rocky’s mother. Dylan O’Brien gives two of the best performances of the year. James Sweeney, whose onscreen acting experience thus far is mostly in short films, has me dying to read up on him and get to the bottom of what compelled him to make a project like this. Aisling Franciosi, who played James McAvoy’s wife in last summer’s Speak No Evil, is plucky and cute as Marcie – a receptionist who works with Dennis, and eventually becomes Roman’s girlfriend. Her character is almost always smiling, exuberant, and possesses a near-autistic or Aspergery memory of past events. It’s fascinating to see how she becomes involved in the story.

There’s a sequence that takes place at one of those exhibits with lots of artwork in dark rooms, that utilizes moving lights on walls and on the floor. There is also a ball pit with light-up colored balls. When seeing how heavily it featured in the trailer, I was afraid Twinless would settle into the silly kind of surreal. But no, it’s not belabored, and serves to accentuate Dennis’s isolation. This was an attempted double date, where he ended up a third wheel.

I can’t think of many films from 2025 that I recommend as heartily as Twinless. I will add my voice to the chorus of critics and viewers who have said it will stick with you for a while. They are so right. I want to see it again, clocking certain line deliveries, reactions, and facial expressions – knowing what I know now. You will be thinking about it long after seeing it, for reasons I won’t talk about. It will urge you to see things from different perspectives, for reasons I won’t talk about. It’s one of the best movies of the year, for reasons I hope you find out.

Grade: A