Filmmaker James Sweeney‘s very youthful look belies both his age and his experience. When Queerguru first met him back in 2020, his debut feature film Straight Up was such a hit at Sundance.  He not only directed the film but he also wrote, produced, and took the starring role in this refreshing new take on the traditional ‘coming out story.  (You can read our review HERE).

Now, with his excellent sophomore movie, TWiNLESS, he is back again on the screen and behind the camera, and was rewarded with the coveted Audience Award at Sundance.  In it, Sweeney plays Dennis, who has a fab one-night stand with a man called Rocky, who then ghosts him.  However, a few days later, he spots Ricky in the street with another man , and when he chases him, Ricky runs off and straight into the path of a speeding car. Then, when Dennis attends the funeral, he discovers that Ricky has an identical  twin brother,  whom he takes to stalking,

Roman (Dylan O’Brien), the brother, joins a support group for twinless twins, and so Dennis attends the meeting on the pretext that he, too, is grieving a lost twin. He maneuvers it so that the two of them become friends,  but Roman, however, is straight, and instead of falling into bed with Dennis as he would love, Roman starts dating an office colleague called Marcie.  She may seem like a dizzy blonde, but it is she who uncovers the fact that Dennis never had a twin at all.

Sweeney’s script works so perfectly because of an exceptional, nuanced performance of O’Brien playing both the outgoing gay Ricky and the more restrained, unworldly Roman.  His budding relationship makes for such compelling viewing that there is a point where we find ourselves wishing that Sweeney had written a totally different ending to appease our romantic side.  “You get me,” says softhearted Roman right after meeting  Dennis ……if only.