“Twinless” is a darkly funny, quietly unsettling film with more heart than it initially lets on. Dennis and Roman meet at a grief support group for people who’ve lost their identical twins. On the surface, they couldn’t be more different — Roman is straight, provincial and a bit slow on the uptake; Dennis is gay, cerebral and socially awkward. Yet the bond they form is immediate.
Their need for connection is understandable. But there is also something unnerving about their codependency.
As the movie shifts from one character’s point of view to another’s, their complex motivations and secrets stack up. After a flashback introduces us to Roman’s twin, Rocky, it becomes clear that Dennis’ grief may be tangled in something much darker.
The writer/director, James Sweeney, also stars as Dennis. The film scored big at Sundance 2025, winning both the dramatic Audience Award and the Special Jury Award for Acting for Sweeney's co-star, Dylan O’Brien. O’Brien gives a bravura performance, effortlessly playing two characters and delivering an emotionally gutting monologue.
One of the movie’s strengths is how its exploration of the specific loneliness that comes from losing a twin expands into more universal themes of isolation and companionship. There are inflection points where “Twinless” could veer into melodrama or violence. It flirts with both, but always pulls back.
“Twinless” is particularly adept at matching cinematography to a scene’s mood: a tense conference room shimmers with tension; an anxiety attack vibrates with color; a too-bright street is surreally populated only with identical twins.
The film also plays cleverly with symmetry. Two pivotal scenes with very different emotional stakes take place in the same restaurant. There are two under-the-covers conversations between different characters. And there’s a terrific split-screen scene at a Halloween party highlighting a challenge to Dennis and Roman’s bromance, as one character finds love and the other strikes out.
“Twinless” also stars Aisling Franciosi as Dennis’ perky co-worker with surprisingly deep emotional intelligence, and Lauren Graham, of “Gilmore Girls” fame, as Roman and Rocky’s bereft mother. “Twinless” runs 1 hour and 40 minutes. It’s showing at Park City Film in the Santy Auditorium this weekend.
So, should you see it? If you like dark comedies with great storytelling, layered performances and a lingering emotional punch, absolutely.
