Second Best
2018 · 20m
Directed by Alyssa McClelland
Genres: coming-of-age, drama, family
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
Twin sisters raised by a domineering mother, one a nurtured gymnast and the other ignored, see their fortunes unexpectedly change and their fractured family dynamic shift.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The reversal of fortune is almost too tidy—twin narratives rarely escape their own symmetry—but McClelland's refusal to redeem the mother or wrap this in false catharsis keeps it from feeling like Hallmark reconciliation porn.
A deliberate chamber piece working in the tradition of intimist family drama, with formal restraint that recalls early Haneke; the decision to keep the camera close and still lets the power dynamics breathe without manipulation.
That single moment where the ignored twin's body language shifts—the tiny recognition that she's being *seen*—does all the emotional work without a line of dialogue, and it's the kind of micro-performance choice that transforms a well-meaning premise into something that actually lands.