Together Movie Review:

Living and breathing creatures all have a unique thirst for connection. The romance genre is one end of the spectrum when it comes to showcasing this. The gradual heightening of a couple's happy and animated emotions, culminating in a crescendo, leaves the audience content. But what lies at the other end of the spectrum? An unnerving tale of obsession, filled with despair, that in the end ushers the couple into a space devoid of happiness or sadness. A space where they completely submit to each other. The latter might sound ominous, but Together uses that idea to tell a memorable story.

Director: Michael Shanks

Cast: Dave Franco, Alison Brie, and Damon Herriman

Tim (Dave Franco) and Millie (Alison Brie) are a couple whose relationship is slipping away from their grasp. Tim, an aspiring musician, is 35 years old, yet to evolve into a stable person, as the ghosts of his past haunt his present. Simply put, Tim is a loser. But Michael Shanks, the writer and director, uses Tim's aloof nature to keep the audience on edge. Tim is initially afflicted by the supernatural causes that haunt him and Millie for the rest of the film. By coupling Tim's history of mental illness with the unpredictable ways in which the supernatural makes him unconsciously obsessed with his wife, the film creates an eerie feel of electrical calmness. This is the fine line that Together treads, keeps the audience on the edge of their seat, as it surprises them where they would expect jump scares. Continuing on this path is how Together stays unique.

While the horror genre is explicitly extreme, especially in its attempt to make a point, Together's simmering tension drives home the point of obsession. One would have seen a couple go from being two unique individuals to a co-dependent unit. But you wouldn't have been privy to what it took for the couple to maintain their relationship. Together's horror isn't limited to the supernatural, but it also extends to the fundamental, yet often neglected human emotion, cringe. There is a proposal, an argument, and an intimate scene, all of which leave the audience cringing due to the awkwardness of the moment. While not as potent as anger or sadness, awkwardness helps maintain the air of unpredictability in the film. This unpredictability helps the story raise the intensity of the obsession that will plague Tim and Millie. In a genre like body horror, this level of intense obsession pierces through the emotional boundary of the audience to creep on them.

Together is technically brilliant enough to help elevate the experience. From the get go, the film uses effective imagery to immerse the audience into the thrill. The central motif of the film is the metamorphosis of two into one. To uphold this, the cinematography uses the same tricks as the Rubin's vase, which essentially is a normal vase, but the negative space that forms around the vase is two faces looking at each other. It's not the focus of the camera that tells the whole story, but rather the complete story is told by the entire picture. The macro lens of the camera is also used to exemplify something as mundane as the skin into a symbol of obsession. Editing, the fundamental lexicon of the cinematic language, is also used effectively. The supernatural, at a key point in the movie, contorts both Tim and Millie into unnatural angles, which is intended to evoke uneasiness in the audience. But instead of continuing a single shot, the film edits the scene in a way that adds disorientation to the uneasiness.

Together is also helped by masterful performances from Franco, Brie, and Damon Herriman. Franco as the miserable Tim competes with Brie's Millie to ace each other's acting prowess. The film is not overtly philosophical in its storytelling, but the effectual use of body horror to make a point is its strongest point.