Film Review - Together
Images courtesy of Kismet Movies.
Directed by Australian based filmmaker Michael Shanks, Together follows Tim (Dave Franco) and Milly (Alison Brie) as they navigate their relationship after a big move from the city into a small town, where all they have is each other.
Together explores the cracks and crevices, the dark and dirty parts of relationships, asking the questions that we’re too afraid to ask ourselves: how does codependency manifest itself in relationships? When do you know to take a step back? Am I really my own person..?
It’s original, funny, sometimes frustrating and often uncomfortable. It’s a movie that will make you think about your own relationships, friendships and maybe make you question why you are the way you are. The perfect light-hearted watch for a first date!
Together perfectly balances horror and comedy with a tinge of romance. Between the – not as graphic as I expected – body horror, and existential dread it poses about relationships, there were bits of comedy sprinkled throughout which kept it balanced and set the tone really well. This movie certainly feels confident in itself, for good reason - it was never overly funny, or corny, and never too gory or overdone with the horror tropes. It was a fun, original mix of these elements.
The sound and VFX popped off. You should know by the poster and trailer that their bodies… well… merge ‘together’ at times. The sound design was great in these scenes, it sold the performance and made it feel realistic - for how ridiculous some of it was. The score complimented key scenes perfectly. The visual effects were a large part of why this worked so well too. The VFX team were successful in making us feel uncomfortable and creating a sense of internal panic and unease. While talking about the technical stuff, I’m not sure if this was intentional but i watched this in a private, completely dark cinema, and some scenes were dim and shadowy and it was difficult to tell what was going on at all. It had me thinking, am I supposed to be seeing what's going on right now?
Brie and Franco fit their roles scarily well, so it’s unsurprising that the pair have been together in real life for around 14 years. Though their performances are good, the characters are not very likeable. It sometimes makes it hard to relate or feel for them because you can't help but think they had it coming. Franco plays the needy, annoying musician boyfriend quite well and Brie does a great job at playing the high achieving, career-oriented girlfriend who's lowkey mothers her boyfriend (shoutout Freud).
The ending ties the story together perfectly, saying a lot about codependency and the end result of a codependent relationship, whilst remaining satisfyingly ambiguous and up to interpretation. Your own relationships will shape the way you interpret the ending, making it personal to everyone who watches.
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Together is screening in cinemas from Thursday the 31st of July. For tickets and more info, click here.