Argentinian director Juan Cabral’s debut, Two/One, is a subtle, alluring addition to a genre of films exploring second selves
Some films are best watched more or less by accident: stumbled upon with little foreknowledge, so we’re led through the story without a compass. Mubi’s curation model often allows for such moments of discovery: their latest exclusive release, Two/One, is a strange, slippery puzzler well suited to a blind encounter.
The debut feature from Argentinian director Juan Cabral, it’s a subtle, alluring spin on cinema’s longstanding fixation with double personalities. That genre usually hinges on twins or doppelgängers, allowing one actor to flex as showily as possible. Two/One goes another way, instead exploring the idea of two non-alike men – different in face, body, location, vocation – who nonetheless seem to share a life, perhaps even a soul.
Some films are best watched more or less by accident: stumbled upon with little foreknowledge, so we’re led through the story without a compass. Mubi’s curation model often allows for such moments of discovery: their latest exclusive release, Two/One, is a strange, slippery puzzler well suited to a blind encounter.
The debut feature from Argentinian director Juan Cabral, it’s a subtle, alluring spin on cinema’s longstanding fixation with double personalities. That genre usually hinges on twins or doppelgängers, allowing one actor to flex as showily as possible. Two/One goes another way, instead exploring the idea of two non-alike men – different in face, body, location, vocation – who nonetheless seem to share a life, perhaps even a soul.
- 10/10/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
Juan Cabral's Two/One is exclusively showing on Mubi in most countries starting October 10, 2020.While this might look like an introduction, it’s actually the last appendix of a film. A gallant farewell. When I think about Two/One, I think about a scene in an airport—and this is not a spoiler, more of a "hand-holder"—which represents some sort of impossible waltz between two people. Two atoms chasing each other to the point of exhaustion. Incapable. Surreal. Potentially funny. We have the tendency to behave like a block of ice that melted long ago, but that keeps trying to find itself. There’s hope and poetry in that effort. The film is constantly trying to decode something it can’t grasp. Detached. Poignant. As if it was scanning warmth. As unlikely as it may sound, I always thought the ultimate viewing place would be a plane. And the closest...
- 10/9/2020
- MUBI
"We all have to face ourselves sooner or later..." Gravitas has debuted an official trailer for a peculiar indie sci-fi film titled Two/One, also written out as 2/1. The film is about two men from opposites sides of the world who are connected - when one sleeps, the other one is awake. It seems to be inspired by Your Name, the body-switching anime sensation, but with a more dramatic premise. When the two different men finally meet, a simple question arises: Who is the dream and who is the dreamer? Ah yes, the age old philosophical question. "They slowly begin to realize that they might be dreaming each other. They are, in some strange way, the same person." Starring Boyd Holbrook, Song Yang, Dominique McElligott, Beau Bridges, Zhu Zhu, and Anna Van Hooft. This looks slick, but seems the concept was too ambitious to fully realize. Here's the official trailer (+ two...
- 2/4/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Sometimes when you look out of an airplane window during a long-haul flight you get a view like the God’s-eye imagery that occasionally punctuates Argentinian filmmaker Juan Cabral’s intriguing debut: a dark, curved horizon rimmed with the glimmer of a new dawn. “Two/One,” the celebrated advertising director’s first full-length feature, seems born of this lofty, sleep-deprived perspective.
Two men, strangers to one another and living on opposites sides of the planet, share a yin-and-yang-like connection through cycles of sleep and wakefulness. But this immaculately built film, is most remarkable for the warm, intensely real-feeling observation of these two different but gently echoing lives. For all the vaguely New-Age-y philosophy that underpins the movie, “Two/One” is lovely to look at, engagingly humane and surprisingly down to earth, at least until Cabral’s script lapses into overdetermination later on and the subtle magic fizzles out in a fog of tediously unanswerable practicalities.
Two men, strangers to one another and living on opposites sides of the planet, share a yin-and-yang-like connection through cycles of sleep and wakefulness. But this immaculately built film, is most remarkable for the warm, intensely real-feeling observation of these two different but gently echoing lives. For all the vaguely New-Age-y philosophy that underpins the movie, “Two/One” is lovely to look at, engagingly humane and surprisingly down to earth, at least until Cabral’s script lapses into overdetermination later on and the subtle magic fizzles out in a fog of tediously unanswerable practicalities.
- 12/8/2019
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Boyd Holbrook is set to star in Bliss Media's Two/One, from Argentine director Juan Cabral, which Protagonist Pictures is unveiling to buyers at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. Bliss Media's Wei Han (Jackie), RedRum Films' Chris Clark (All the Money in the World, Legend) and Flora Fernandez Marengo (Calvary) will produce, along with Dave Valleau for South Creek Pictures. Bliss Media is fully financing and handling Chinese distribution rights while Protagonist Pictures…...
- 5/11/2017
- Deadline
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.