Review: Two’s a Crowd Hot Docs

29, April 2011Events, ReviewsView Comments

Dir. Tom and Jim Isler
United States
20 Mins.
2011

Tom Isler and his brother Jim have been making movies together since they six and nice respectively. They are true independents of the industry in every sense of the word, as they shoot and fund their projects themselves, typically on a very minimal budget. Their latest film which will screen at the Hot Docs Film Festival this year is entitled Two’s A Crowd; a twenty minute documentary that explores the unique marital relationship between two New Yorkers, Allen and Collette.

Allen is 56 years old. For the last seventeen years he has lived alone in his New York City bachelor apartment and after four-and-a-half years of marriage, he is finally moving in with his wife.

When Allen married Collette, 55, they both agreed that it would be in their best interests to keep their separate apartments. Both acknowledge if it weren’t for the the financial attractiveness of living together, they would have continued living apart. But, the American economy being as it is, and the fact that both don’t have enough saved up for retirement, they have come to the conclusion that it would make the most sense for them to experiment with cohabitation.

Much like their marriage, their form of cohabitation doesn’t contour to societal norms, as their apartment is divided up with Allen taking the living room and Collette the bedroom. In a way they are technically still living apart, though living together.

Five months later Tom and Jim check in on our new roommates, and to everyone’s surprise, even Allen’s and Collette’s, their new living arrangements have worked. Not only is their marriage still intact, but they are both doing much better financially. For Allen and Collette, this is the closest they will come to a ‘regular’ marriage.

With Two’s A Crowd we all can learn a thing or two about relationships. The greatest strength of Allen and Collette’s marriage is in their ability to give each other space. A by-product of them not leaving together for the first four-and-a-half years of their marriage was that when they were together on the weekends, it was a time they anticipated; a time they cherished. Through their abnormal relationship, we come to understand that even in marriage, we have to be our own self, and have our own interests. And sure, two can be more crowded, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a crowd. If we can take anything away from Allen’s and Collette’s successful relationship, it’s about finding a balance between yourself and each other, and maintaining it even if it means seeing less of the one you love.

75/100 - If we can take anything away from Allen’s and Collette’s successful relationship, it’s about finding a balance between yourself and each other, and maintaining it even if it means seeing less of the one you love.

Christopher Misch

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I've always loved movies, but it wasn't until under the tutelage of Professor Garry Leonard at the University of Toronto that my passion for the industry became an understanding of an art form. With a specific fascination in both the western genre and Asian cinema in general, I am of the view that good movies are either enlightening or entertaining, and if you are truly lucky they are both.