Twinless
(2024 | USA | James Sweeney | 100 min)

Twinless finds writer-director James Sweeney & Dylan O’Brien as fast-friends who fill the voids in each others’ lives upon bonding over cookies in a bereavement group for surviving twins. Both actors are absolutely terrific — including a brief dual role for O’Brien, who portrays both the grieving twin (simpler, small town straight bro) and the swishier urbane one who reinvented himself in Portland before his tragic untimely demise.

The first act finds the two guys hanging out constantly, tagging along for mundane tasks. Even though their personalities are different, neither seems to know how to exist in the world without a mirror beside them. Whether it’s wandering through Whole Foods or chattering on the phone, they somehow complete each other.

Poignant yet prickly, the wry gay-straight bromance never settles for quirk or easy sentimentality. Instead, a very clever structure allows Sweeney’s film repeatedly recontextualizes, deepens, and and darkens the storytelling with each successive act. (Spoiler: the opening titles don’t show up until about a half hour in). With each reinvention, the movie becomes even more electrifying and deeply emotional, introducing a sense of uncomfortable complicity among the audience along the way.

Of local note, in what might be a first, it also features a few shots of Seattle’s own Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena during a hockey game bonding activity. Best of Sundance so far!

Twinless played as an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. It is available for online viewing from January 30-February 2.