It's Been a Minute Are you caught in a bad bromance?
Oct 29, 2025
Join Neda Ulaby, NPR arts and entertainment reporter, and Marcus Jones, IndieWire awards editor, as they explore the complexities of male friendships in contemporary films. They discuss how movies reflect men's struggles with loneliness and emotional expression. With insights on rejection and the emotional labor often handled by women, they analyze themes from recent films and how societal expectations shape these portrayals. Tune in for a compelling look at what makes friendships work—or fail—among men.
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Group Acceptance Feels Like A Social Test
- The films expose the romanticism and shame tied to finding and failing at male friendship in group settings.
- Failing a social "test" can remove not just one friend but access to an entire male group.
Women Often Manage Men's Social Lives
- Women in these films often play the emotionally literate mediator who reads and manages men's social dynamics.
- That pattern highlights cultural expectations that women handle emotional labor in men's social lives.
Twinless: Intense Bonding After Loss
- Twinless follows Roman and Dennis bonding intensely after meeting in a support group for lost twins.
- Their friendship blurs familial and romantic lines as they quickly become inseparable.