Enemy

When History professor Adam happens across his exact duplicate one night while watching a low rent comedy film, his life is altered forever. Unsure as to why he has been dealt such a hand, he explores the life of the 'other' and in the end meets his twin. It is fair too say that life will never be the same for either of them again.

The first thing to say about this film is that I thought it was exceptional. We live in a time where cinema often is written by numbers and this too in a way that drip feeds our expectations. This film does none of this and plays on many of the conventions we expect from a thriller and a psychological drama. Now Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent in this duel role and deserves a whole heap of praise for playing two very different characters that look exactly the same. Hard to do convincingly but he did it well, adding both shape and personality to both. The other cast members are a little hit and miss, with some feeling empty and others over flowing with energy. This does dull the effect a little of certain scenes and at important moments this can be annoying.

Often films like this are not about watching, they are about reading the text. This film is such that this reading can and will produce many different ideas as too what it will mean. This will account for many viewers turning off and hating what they are seeing. As mentioned early, if you have unconvincing performances this doesn't help you along. The Lynch moments of the film (Spiders, Dreams and flashed visions) will not bode well for many viewers. Even the presence of Isabella Rossellini, a direct nod to a director of high note I will talk about later on in this work, will be unpalatable to some.

Technically the film is shot in a very distinct style. Sepia hues are rare in mainstream and even art house films but this film plays with the tint. It mixes this with the slightly over lit and so blown image and it is really quite engaging. It even adds an omnipresent feel of gloom. The script was paced a little slow for me. This seems to be to add tension and build upon the overall foreboding but it sometimes becomes a case of move it along. However overall due to the balance between the ever growing and genuine horror of what is happening and the tension of suspense it works. Its real failing's in the end are with its final third and its nod to the surreal cinema of David Lynch. The final third leaves you a little cold and a little uncaring toward events.

For me I felt the film was clear in message, tone and structure. It deals with isolation, despair and the feeling of control. The motifs of a dictatorship are writ large in it and this is in no small part too do with the source novel by the exceptional Jose Saramago. As to what It is saying about dictatorship, well I will not give my opinion and cloud yours just that it was for me very direct in its points.