Film Review: Twinsters (2015)

If you got a Facebook message from someone that looked like you saying that they wanted to meet, what would you do?

Samantha Futerman is an aspiring actress living in Los Angeles enjoying some success in her career having just starred in 21 & Over, Law & Order and Memoirs of a Geisha.  She knew that she was adopted over from South Korea at birth, but was happily living with her two brothers and parents and trying to break into Hollywood.  Then one day she got a message from her doppelganger asking her where she was born…

Anaïs Bordier lives in London studying textiles at Central Saint Martins, having grown up in France.  One day a friend shows her a comedy skit YouTube video of an American girl that looks a lot like her, so she decides to send her a message…

Although this sounds like the set up for a very twee Parent Trap-style rip off, it is actually a very sweet documentary directed by the American half of Korean twins separated at birth.  After finding out about each other, they spend the first couple of weeks Skyping and texting each other (with a barrage of emojis) and then decide to take a DNA test.  Sam then catches a flight to London for an emotional meeting, during which they find out that they are indeed long-lost, identical sisters…

Their serendipitous meeting could only have happened due to the proliferation of social media outlets, and the film acknowledges this and pays back its gratitude by proudly championing the big players: Skype, Facebook, Apple SMS, Airbnb.  The film is also littered with friends and family using iPhones, GoPros and SLRs to document the experience (amusingly, Sam’s increasingly cracked screen works as a calendar showing the passage of time…)

The most interesting section of the film is when they meet up in L.A. and take an aptitude test at a twin research centre.  Sam (raised in America) is more competitive and extroverted; Anaïs (raised in France) is more moody and creative… although this seems to conform to stereotypes, it is a touching scene where they realise how similar they are as they both score the exact same for comprehension, planning and self-control.

As is evident from the millennial title (Twinsters…) and reliance on selfie-videos, this is a story clearly aimed at a younger, online, giggly audience.  But at its core is a story of family and ambition, told through a life-changing revelation (and lets be honest, how many of us really have had one of them), which contains just enough sociology to engage older viewers, as well as just enough teen drama to entertain teenagers.

Apart from the excruciatingly awkward moment when they finally meet face-to-face (surrounded by friends and cameras), Twinsters is incredibly sweet and easy to watch.  Now, I’m sure I spotted someone with similar hair on Vimeo the other day…