The Crown Shyness

When high school ends and adulthood begins, Benjamin and Joshua Israel, two identical twins of Jewish origin, start feeling burdened and without a future. Being in your twenties and having a sassy attitude is not enough if you have an intellectual disability and the world makes it hard for you to fit in. Joshua would like to have sex for the first time, while Benjamin chases the utopia of love. Although they clash repeatedly, the two brothers share an unbreakable bond. They will soon learn that growing up also means giving the other space without casting a shadow.

Joshua and Benji are identical twins who have just finished high school Aged twenty. The former is a budding trombonist obsessed with getting laid, the latter, more a drummer, with finding something more in the true love vein. They are close yet spar and squabble like most siblings, but Joshua's behaviour is more erratic. He's more prone to foul-mouthed tantrums and strops and is, frankly, a pain in the ass. Might a spell in the army calm them down? National service beckons and that might impose some discipline on the pair - but somehow, I wouldn't bank on it. The problem here for me is two-fold. Firstly, why was this documentary made in the first place? I assumed that both had some learning difficulties but as the project evolved I wasn't sure if that were true or if they were just hyperactively obnoxious. There is no real clarity from the film-makers as to what/who we are watching. Secondly. The camera is everywhere. Fellini couldn't have placed his photographer better and that robs the film of much authenticity - it looks staged. The scenarios look thoroughly rehearsed and almost perfectly choreographed. Some of the imagery is even treated and by the mid-point of this overlong fly-on-the-wall look at the struggles faced by the boys, I wasn't quite sure what was real and what was not. I watched it largely starved of context and felt a little adrift of the thrust of their story by the end.