Cinema One Originals 2018 | Double Twisting Double Back

Spoilers for those who haven't watched the film.

Though it's probably not intentional, Double Twisting Double Back begins with a shot of hands and limbs, preparing to do gymnastics. And in a way, it kinda reflects this movie as a whole: our hands are mirrors of each other, complementary yet opposites, the left hand clashing against the right. Yet one's grip is stronger, our balance, better, when both are working in tandem.

Badger (Tony Labrusca) is tapped to train in order to rejoin the Philippine National Gymnastics Team. We do not know why he was kicked out of the team, but we get hints here and there. Soon we learn that Badger's personality is fractured; his other self (Joem Bascon) is a satyromaniac. Badger tries to repress this other personality, but he only manages to make his other self more and more dangerous.

It's easy to dismiss Bascon's character as evil, but in some ways, he has a point: he wants Badger to lead a normal life with a normal job instead of risking his health and finances by engaging in gymnastics - a profession that, especially in the Philippine setting, is thankless. It's only in not accepting the balance between his two personas that Badger's other self becomes more and more unhinged. One can even argue that both Badgers are right and wrong, and both (and not just one of them) are living life on the edge - Labrusca's version engages in competition for little to no reward, while Bascon's version engages in risky sexual behavior, getting a number of STDs in the process.

The parallels between gymnastics and sex click on a conceptual level as well; in its infancy, gymnastics was performed in the nude, functioning as a sport and a tribute to the physical body. In comparison, casual sex is all about the body and the desire for it. The adrenaline rush of sports and the orgasmic rush of sex also intertwine in this film, and it's an interesting conceptual framework to base the movie on.

Parallels will also be drawn between this film and Black Swan (2010), and it does apply for most of the film. In most of professional sports, gymnastics is probably the closest to the performing arts, though this comparison reaches only so deep. Because once the film reaches its last third, things begin to get more abstract. Badger becomes even more unstable until he loses his grip on reality, fracturing his personality even more. Thanks to its increasing abstraction, there are a number of things and plot threads that were left poorly explained (but make sense if you pay attention and read the credits).

Though it spins out of control during the last part, Double Twisting, Double Back has a fascinating premise and is worth watching if only for decent performances from both leads.


edit 10/17: correction regarding terminology