The Silent Twins

I knew nothing about June and Jennifer Gibbons before watching this. Apparently there have been other tellings of their story on the screen and stage, but it still feels like a fresh story. Beautifully shot and acted.

There's something relatable to their story. I definitely would see how long I could go without speaking as a kid, not that I ever made it more than a day or two. You see the young kids deal with being outsiders, bullying, and how happy they seem when they were isolated and using their imagination. I found it incredibly sad, wishing I could befriend them, hoping they succeed in their creative endeavors.

It's not the most direct, action filled storyline but I found myself invested throughout. I really enjoyed the cinematography, at times diving into their imaginations. Overall, it's something I would definitely watch again. It felt different than most things I've seen recently.

The movie is captivating as an entertainment, but a quick google search informed me it bears little on reality, despite the filmmaker's claim it's based entirely on facts; and the facts call for anything but entertainment. The problem is that she avoids the horrific story of the sisters, making a movie out of their fantasies stemming from post-traumatic psychosis. During a talk she said she wanted to dispel the general narrative of the "evil twins" and tell the story of artists. Indeed they're incredibly perceptive if what is depicted is true: the film begins with psychological insights by the girls of which most adults would be incapable, and which I found hard to believe.

The director abruptly ended the talk on the note that the surviving sister is still "creative", having republished her book and written a short story. I didn't get a chance to ask whether she's made any real psychological progress. The movie depicts her looking happy while taking ballet lessons.

There are certainly interesting themes like the bond between the sisters and how one mysteriously died out of a wish to free her twin sister - again, I only became aware of that during the talk. The film itself is diluted by pop songs and such.

The story calls for a director like Haneke.

First the good, the acting is great, I think everyone gives strong performances, no weak links here, also the cinematography is great, some really nice shots and coloring, kudos to the technical team, unfortunately what good is all of this if the story isn't compelling enough, i've seen short films where the acting is less than stellar but great plots that pull you in and make up for weak acting, the problem is these sisters just aren't that interesting, simple as that, or maybe they are, but the writing oddly made this film one dimensional and linear with its plot. We fail to connect with the characters ultimately, and the film just plods along. Honestly the Wikipedia entry is more interesting.

This is a film inspired by true events and is not a documentary to many people's dismay. Most people have the wrong expectations about the style of this film and give it a bad review. I accepted the filmmakers choice to use non-twins for this film. Telling a story like this with this type of artistic creativity could be confusing for people that can't tell twins apart. What this film does bring to the viewer is highlights of some of the bigger moments in the twins lives while occasionally using some art and claymation to emphasize parts of the story being told, and I accepted the use of claymation as a dramatic effect that could resemble the imaginations of the twins, and the inspiration for the music and scoring was quite acceptable and appropriately sets the tone for your emotions. I did think the acting was very good, and when they were silent they easily were able to covey the right expressions to keep me engaged and aware of each twin's reactions and emotions.

In a world that's alien and quite distressed, two girls decide how their time will invest, shunning prejudice and hate, they are the masters of their fate, no matter how hard others push and poke and press. In a world that they create to hide and shelter, they're each other's guardian, trustee, curator; but fighting against the tide, just brings torrents that collide, with the damage acting as a separator.

What an incredible piece of filmmaking with two outstanding leads by two incredible actors. For me, I'm happy for the director to have used some poetic licence, if I want the facts verbatim I'll watch a documentary or read a biography, but I'm a lot more engaged with a presentation that allows some interpretation and inspires me to investigate further. Those two performances are top drawer!