TWAIN is a short film playing at SBIFF (Santa Barbara Independent Film Festival), and I had the opportunity to see an early look – here’s my Spoiler Free take:
TWAIN is by writer/director Pip and tells the story of twin brothers grappling with a secret. It reminded me of Christopher Nolan’s underrated classic – THE PRESTIGE. I know that TWAIN is not about magicians, but hear me out…
- Simple Story – Nolan’s film would be straightforward without the shocking twist in THE PRESTIGE, and the same goes for Pip’s TWAIN.
- Style – The highlight in TWAIN is the style and performances, which was also one of the biggest selling points for the period piece classic, THE PRESTIGE. Pip masterfully utilizes sound and visuals to tell his story in pieces that keep audiences guessing until the end, while Éanna Hardwicke does double duty as the film’s lead.
- Twins – Apologies if I’m spoiling THE PRESTIGE. The film is almost 20 years old now. Yet, TWAIN uses the twins’ plotting to help emotionally convey the story, similar to Nolan’s flick.
Final Thought: TWAIN is a slick and well-made short that takes Hollywood’s favorite topic, twins, and gives audiences 2x what they expected.