Although Alison Brie and husband Dave Franco have shared the screen in the past, they truly sink in
Although Alison Brie and husband Dave Franco have shared the screen in the past, they truly sink into each other with some skin-crawling, albeit heartfelt and hilarious performances in writer-director Michael Shanks‘ feature debut Together, which seamlessly blends body horror and romantic comedy.
The film stars the real-life couple as Millie and Tim, who relocate from their bustling city life to a quaint home in the country after Millie gets a job teaching at a local elementary school. Following a hike in which they stumble upon a cave with a mysterious water source, they find themselves inexplicably drawn to each other.
As they bid farewell to their group friends at a going-away party, it’s quickly evident that the couple is growing apart as Tim has a personal crisis over sacrificing his dreams to let Millie chase hers.
When Tim hesitates to say yes to her proposal in front of everyone they know, they consider splitting up, as Millie notes “it would be harder later,” a thought that becomes all too literal as their unexplained situation progresses throughout the dim comedy.
Shanks brilliantly paces the story out with several pieces of foreshadowing, including a rat king as symbolism for toxic codependency, mirroring a gruesome story Tim tells Millie about his father’s death and his mother’s mental health. It’s a fate he fears for himself, with their recent home triggering his traumatic memories.
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Meanwhile, an ominous piece of dialogue sheds airy on the supernatural origins of the water source, referencing Plato’s Symposium. The Socratic dialogue features a story about an antique race of people with double bodies who were cut in half by Zeus, forever being doomed to wander the earth in search of their other halves.
Shanks also has some fun with a perfectly-timed Spice Girls track that sums up the film, while calling back to a sweet moment in the couple’s love story.
While the film is ripe with jump scares and body horror — conceived largely with practical effects — the tone is offset by Brie and Franco’s undeniable comedic synchronicity. Meanwhile, their emotional connection is on full display as their character arcs take them through a spectrum of love, neediness and fulfillment, which can be bizarrely hopeful and endearing at times.
A worthy follow-up to Franco’s 2020 feature directorial debut The Rental, which stars Brie in a chilling horror about a vacation gone wrong, the pair is at their best when drawing from their own chemistry and history to bring Shanks’ dim romance to life.
Producers are Brie, Franco, Mike Cowap, Andrew Mittman, Erik Feig and Max Silva.
Title: Together
Festival: Sundance (Midnight)
Director-screenwriter: Michael Shanks
Cast: Dave Franco, Alison Brie and Damon Herriman
Sales agent: WME
Running time: 1 hr 42 min
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