A fair bit of what Scarlett Johansson got wrong with Eleanor the Great , James Sweeney gets right with Twinless -specifically as far as having manipulative, dishonest protagonists who are still meant to be likable. Sweeney perhaps has more riding on it, given he plays this character as well as writing and directing the film, but for a filmmaker of his youth he demonstrates a really firm grasp on how to articulate someone’s humanity through inhumane choices. He also never loses sight of the consequences and harm done by this figure, or who the tragedy of the story ultimately belongs to. And he does so while making the situation wickedly funny too. Twinless is a fairly warped comedy-drama -and only Sweeney’s second feature-film- about the lengths people will go to for a missing connection, centred on two men sorely in need of it from very different avenues. We’re introduced to Dylan O’Brien’s Roman -in deep and difficult mourning after the sudden death of his twin brother Rock...
It’s hard not to look at Roofman as a goofy comedy -especially with the way it has been marketed to emphasize the silliness in the concept of a man living in a Toys “R” Us. Indistinguishable from a 90s or early 2000s David Spade or Rob Schneider vehicle honestly. And then you get to the movie and maybe remember that it is written and directed by Derek Cianfrance and after not too long find it is a more substantial and emotionally involved film than expected, one that takes the bizarre novelty of its premise and uses that ultimately as the mere backdrop for a seriously considered human drama. That is fitting because it actually was. A spree robber called the Roofman -real name Jeffrey Manchester- actually did live secretly out of a Toys “R” Us store for six months in 2004 while a fugitive from justice. A former reservist marine, he’d actually gotten his name from a series of dozens of McDonald’s robberies across the country that he carried out by drilling through the roofs of the s...