MIST #1- The Skeleton Twins

 Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader are comedy kings and both had their hand at bringing audiences to tears every week on Saturday Night Live. With this in mind, I expected the film to be light-hearted and have a lot of silliness in it. When the opening scene depicted both twins separately attempting suicide, I was immediately enthralled. Over a black screen, you begin by hearing a much more serious Wiig talk about her dad. A man in a skeleton mask appears on screen and presents his two children with skeleton dolls. The symbolism is already making itself clear. One girl wears a Wednesday Addams costume and to her left, her brother is dressed as a pageant queen. The two kids look happily from the skeletons and up at their dad before we're cut to a view of the skeleton doll sinking to the bottom of a pool just as the voiceover asks, "What the hell happened to us?"
     Bill Hader's distressed face fills the screen. He's struggling to write a letter and can't figure out who to make it to, so he settles on "to whom it may concern." The upbeat Beach Boys-esque song playing in the background adds to the irony of the obviously depressed and slumming Hader. After a long hard stare into his fish tank and an equally as long swing of vodka, Hader looks longingly into a picture frame before tossing it into the tank. When it settles to the bottom, we see a photo of him with his arm wrapped around another man. This explains the depressed look and pageant queen costume.

     Cut to the suicide, a God's eye view looks down on Hader as he lies in tub, the red whisps of blood flowing out of his wrists and up his abdomen. Just as the music builds up, we cut to a frontal close up of Wiig's face and the scene is silent. A tear rolls down her cheek and another cut to her cupped hand over the sink reveals the handful of pills she appears ready to take. She takes a few final breathes and just in time, a

call comes in on her phone with the caller id, "Unknown." Holding out the phone next to her handful of pills, she looks back and forth between the two before finally answering the call. Wiig snaps at the lady on the phone about how she's on a national do not call registry and how did you get this number before the voice on the line informs her of her brother's failed suicide attempt. She assures her that he's ok and a stunned Wiig can only get out, "Good."
      There is barely any talking in this four minute scene, but that doesn't mean it wasn't able to get the point across. The heavy use of low-key lighting gave the scenes their darker feel, which fit with the weighty topic it was depicting. I liked the use of a God's eye shot during Hader's suicide because it made him look vulnerable in what was probably, the most vulnerable time in his life. Same with Wiig's shot. The use of a close-up put all the attention on her face, and you were really able to read what she was feeling moments before she thought she was going to end her life. Also, by having a shot of key objects, like the picture frame or the handful of pills, we are able to understand the plot by putting the objects into context.

     This scene sets up the plot for the rest of the movie. Hader and Wiig play Milo and Maggie, two twins who, after experiencing the same near-death experience, try to rebuild their relationship after not speaking for ten years. Milo is a gay wannabe actor who can't find an agent and Maggie is a suburban wife secretly taking birth control. Neither of their lives is going where they thought it would and as the movie progresses, they look to each other and their past for answers on what to do next. Even though this is a "serious" role for Wiig and Hader, there are some serious funny moments in which I found myself LOL-ing pretty hard, specifically a scene (which I've included in the post) where they're both hyped up on laughing gas. The movie often had burst of funny moments like this, often relying on a dry humor similar to that found in Wes Anderson movies.
      Overall, I loved the film. I thought that it did a great job mixing in scenes about the seriousness of adultery and cheating on your spouse with scenes of fart jokes. It kept me entertained and at times even a little surprised. The film does a good job of not overloading the viewer with too much background info at one time. A big plot point is why the twins stopped talking in the first place and the movie does a great job of revealing that slowly by first introducing other characters and building up the story so the audience can understand each side better. I'm giving this movie 5 flames out of 5, it's available on Netflix, go watch it.