Is someone secretly living in my home unbeknownst to me? Could someone be hiding in my crawlspace or attic and moving about the place when I’m sleeping or not around? I don’t know about the rest of you, but these are questions that have run through my mind from time to time. What is someone was indeed hiding in your home and decided to mess with you? How soon would you figure it out? Two Pigeons asks and answers all of these questions.
The film is primarily a single-location tale that revolves around a douchebag realtor and the man living in the walls of his apartment. There’s a reason for this mysterious man’s occupancy of the space between the walls, but I’m not going to get into that here. The joy of the film is more in his actions than his motives.
You see, Orlan (Javier Botet) isn’t simply content to use Hussein’s (Mim Shaikh) bathroom and eat his food when he’s not home. He does that at first, but quickly sets about messing with his unknowing host in a variety of humorous and disgusting ways. His “pranks” range from unplugging his phone from his charger and delaying his morning alarm to wiping his ass with his washcloth and cleaning his ear with his electric toothbrush.
These are the joys of Two Pigeons, but I unfortunately found them outweighed by its slow burn pacing and repetitive nature. The acting is good and the concept is intriguing, but it doesn’t quite keep things fresh enough to sustain its feature-length running time. Still, I can’t hate a film that not only places the great Javier Botet in a leading role, but actually allows him to act without special make-up on as well. If you are a fan of Botet, you’ll get to see a different side of him here and that alone could make it worthwhile for you.
Two Pigeons is an original comedic thriller. It is directed by Dominic Bridges, from a screenplay by Rae Brunton and Dominic Bridges. The film is produced by Andrew Boswell, John Doris, Christopher Reynolds, Matt Hichens, and Alexandra Stone. It stars Javiet Botet as ‘Orlan’, Mim Shaikh as ‘Hussein’, Mandeep Dhillon as ‘Mel’, Kola Bokinni as ‘Sonny’, and Michael McKell as ‘Gerry’.
