I have a trigger when it comes to those who bully or take advantage of someone that is perceived to be lesser than they are. At one point I actually considered going into Special Education and actually took a internship to be degreed to do so. Director Agnieszka Smoczynska’s latest in “The Silent Twins” may not be exactly in that category, there ARE some triggers her for those that are sensitive to this type of situation.
Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrence star in this true story of twins named June and Jennifer Gibbons (respectively), who are a part of a family from Barbados who moved to England in the 1960s. They seem to be normal in most ways, but they do not communicate with anyone else but each other and almost exist in their own world. As they grow into young women, things start to change in ways neither one of them could imagine.
This is going to be a very different review due to the nature of the film itself. Overall, I really did like “The Silent Twins” starting with great performances by its two leads. Wright and Lawrence really channeled their roles well down to the way they spoke, which has a bit of a slur which could be because of their limited communication with anyone that is not their twin sister. There are also two other actors that played June and Jennifer as younger girls, who also were amazing in how they portrayed their roles in a way that made the transition to the older girls done almost perfectly. Given all of this, could I see some nominations for acting for some of the cast members of this film? The answer is simply: most definitely!
There is something else that sets this film apart from others I have seen is the way the real-life scenarios and those the twins imagined up are presented. For those that are based on actual events, the tones used are very dark, but when it comes to the story they are telling each other, there is a stop-motion animation style that uses brighter colors and a presentation that reminded me a bit of “Wallace and Gromit”. Those stark differences really made a difference to me and is presented in a way that even I got emotionally invested in some of the choices that they make both in a sympathetic way and in some cases maddening me because of the consequences they know they will be facing. At just under two hours long, it felt a tad too long but not bad. This is good, but it felt like it was just missing one small thing that would take it over the top, so I will still highly recommend “The Silent Twins” as a twilight showing in the theaters.