Michael Shanks’ Together arrives as a horror satire with a soft pulse beneath its wildest images, a film that treats love as both a cosmic joke and a sacred tether. Alison Brie and Dave Franco guide the story with a lived‑in ease, shaping Millie and Tim as a couple drifting through grief, longing, and the strange gravity of shared history. Their move to the countryside, meant to offer renewal, instead opens a doorway into a mythic idea of union—one that stretches the body as much as the spirit.
The early passages of the film carry a gentle ache. Millie’s proposal at their going‑away party, Tim’s hesitation, and the quiet space between them create a foundation that makes the later supernatural events feel like an extension of their emotional landscape. When they fall into the cave during a storm and awaken with their legs fused, the film leans into its satire of togetherness with a playful, eerie charm. Brie brings a luminous steadiness to Millie, while Franco gives Tim a tremulous vulnerability shaped by the loss of his parents and the memories that still cling to him.
As Tim’s episodes intensify—his body pulled toward Millie with a force he can barely understand—the film deepens its exploration of eros, longing, and the ancient hunger for union. Damon Herriman’s Jamie McCabe enters the story with a welcoming smile that carries a mysterious shimmer, guiding Millie through philosophical reflections on love’s origins. His home, his water, and his stories create a space where Millie begins to sense the larger pattern surrounding the cave and the missing couple, Simon and Keri.
The film’s middle stretch embraces its satirical horror with full commitment. Bodies twist, limbs fuse, and the lovers’ attempts to maintain their autonomy unfold with a feverish energy. Shanks directs these sequences with a blend of humor and tenderness, allowing the grotesque to feel strangely intimate. The discovery of Simon and Keri in their fused state, and the revelation of Jamie’s own history, expand the film’s mythology into something both uncanny and oddly celebratory—a vision of love as literal merging.
The final act brings Millie and Tim to a place of surrender and affirmation. Their driveway reunion, their shared fear, and their final dance to “2 Become 1” offer a lyrical culmination of the film’s themes. The fusion that follows feels like a strange blessing, a moment where love becomes a single breath shared between two people who have traveled through fear, memory, and devotion. Brie and Franco carry this transformation with grace, giving the ending a soft glow.
By the time Millie’s parents arrive and meet the androgynous Tillie, Together has completed its arc as a satire with a tender heart. Shanks delivers a film that embraces the wildness of love—its spiritual pull, its physical closeness, its desire to create a single life from two separate paths. The result is a curious, affectionate exploration of union, carried by a cast that leans into both the humor and the sincerity of the story.
Letter Grade: B+, Streaming in Hulu.
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