Enemy (2013) by Denis Villeneuve

charlie_says

Enemy

Thriller about a man who sees his doppelganger on a TV and becomes obsessed with finding him. I know little else about this, it was recently recommended to me by a friend who described it as "a thinking man's thriller". Looks fairly well reviewed.

Directed by Denis Villeneuve, the man who brought us the phenomenal Incendies and Prisoners, which I believe is pretty decent.

I'll probably see this just based on the brilliance of Incendies.

Has anybody seen this?

duckworth

Never heard of it, or the director - but love the premise. Definitely going to watch it now - sounds like a Twilight Zone/Hitchcock type thing.

Sad Professor

There are echoes of Vertigo and the more psychological aspects of Hitchcock’s work such the doppelganger (which Hitch borrowed from German Expressionism), but the overall tone owes much more to Lynch and Cronenberg. It’s a surrealist puzzle piece, some of which can be put together and some which can’t. It’s not a thriller and if you go in expecting that you’ll hate it.

duckworth

It reminds me of Paul Auster's novels. I wish there were more movies in that kind of spirit.

(haven't seen it yet btw)

charlie_says

Sad Professor wrote: »

There are echoes of Vertigo and the more psychological aspects of Hitchcock’s work such the doppelganger (which Hitch borrowed from German Expressionism), but the overall tone owes much more to Lynch and Cronenberg. It’s a surrealist puzzle piece, some of which can be put together and some which can’t. It’s not a thriller and if you go in expecting that you’ll hate it.

That sounds great

charlie_says

Watched this last night with a group of friends, with very mixed reactions. One of them said it was the worst film he had seen this year.

I really liked it. Thought it had a an effective sense of tension and dread. The lack of dialog helped this immensely and was just enough to keep the whole film, which is short by today's standards, moving along.

Jake Gyllenhaal was superb in it. His portrayal of two very similar men was deftly done, especially the lecturer character who really looked like he was losing the plot entirely.

Still on the fence about the way it looks though, brown, brown and more brown. I enjoyed the architectural shots of Montreal but the colouring was a little too much I think. The score on the other hand was good and weird.

Speaking of weird, this had some really surreal dream sequences. In particular the scene in the hotel lobby was quite unsettling due to the sinister music and the almost ritualistic check in.

I think you can take multiple meanings from this movie, and there seems to be several trains of thought on what actually happens in it. Definitely worth a rewatch.

Intriguing.

Chris_Heilong

I liked it, There was a very Scandinavian feel to the whole thing, and the ending was interesting...