Together

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https://kismetmovies.com/releases/together

Date Reviewed: 17/07/2025

Having his debut feature film’s world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival provided Melbourne writer-director Michael Shanks with a dream-come-true. But as a director who sights David Lynch, John Carpenter, and M Night Shyamalan among his movie-making heroes, you could probably guess that his movie’s lead characters will be involved in something more nightmarish.

Together sees real-life couple (and producers of Together) Alison Brie and Dave Franco star as Millie and Tim. A couple over a decade into their relationship, and no longer on the same page. But with both people reluctant to fully address the issues they have with the other, they drift between loving each other, faking happiness, resenting the other, and walking on eggshells in front of each other. A move to a small country town, is passed off as a happy and exciting time for them, but it’s clear Tim is doing it reluctantly, and it's likely a last-ditch effort from Millie to re-ignite their relationship.

And it becomes fitting that it is this kind of behaviour that leads to them experiencing the gruesome events of the second half of the movie. With Millie trying to get them to do something together, and Tim trying to avoid intimacy at home, they decide to go for a hike. A storm hits while on the hike, and the now-disoriented couple, fall into a cave that contains the remains of a structure, that they later find out was a church.

As night falls and the torrential rain continues, they decide to wait the storm out in the cave. But this involves deeper conversation then they have seemingly had in a while, drinking from a questionable stream of water in the cave, and huddling closely together. They awoke to their shins being stuck together. Being passed off as mildew (which provides a good laugh later in the movie), their shins are easily, but painfully, separated. But this is a sneak preview to what is to come. Then the madness, among the metaphors, starts.

In the relationship, Tim appears to be giving up more but contributing far less. The reason is that he is far more dependent on Millie than she is on him. And he does just enough to make sure they stay together. After the cave experience, this becomes a physical requirement for Tim. He needs to be near Millie, even if he doesn’t want to be. Eventually, the same physical need befalls Millie, with the two bodies constantly being drawn to each other, no matter how much they try to stay apart.

Brie and Franco are both great. Brie’s Millie is kind, intelligent, patient, and resilient, even if she is possibly a bit too nerdy for her wannabe rockstar “boy-partner”. Franco’s Tim remains likeable, even though his character is damaged, insecure, frustrating, and weak. Franco made it all work, even though the most unrealistic thing may be how a straight man does not want to be physically intimate with Alison Brie! Both actors had me believing their issues with the other, while buying-in to the fact that they do love each other. Possibly being a real-life couple is a factor in this, and possibly just good acting.

The real star here though, is Michael Shanks. He’s written a highly entertaining script that can be contained to minimal sets and a small list of actors, allowing for a smaller budget movie that can have a big impact. The use of sound is exceptional, with silence being used multiple times as effectively as any score or sound effect. Much like M Night Shyamalan can write-in genuine laughs into his thrillers, Shanks can do similar here, exceeding what Night has done in this space previously. Cringe laughs, gross-out effects, and humorous dialogue in times of panic; Shanks does it all here. The visuals aren’t ground-breaking, but effective for a relatively low-budget horror-comedy.

The building pace early is fine and makes the ramp-up in the final act more effective. And while the climax goes a little off the rails in comparison to the more straightforward first act, this is the sort of movie where that works.

Reviewed by Dion Gaunt