I have been waiting for Enemy to come to Australian cinemas for quite some time now but it never did. I then found out that it came out on home video a week ago causing me to feel rather annoyed as I was really keen to see it. So I went out and bought it even though I hadn't seen it but I have to say I'm glad I did.
Enemy is the new film directed by Denis Villeneuve who also directed Prisoners which came out last year. In fact they were both screen at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and Enemy was actually made first but was only distributed this year. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal doing double duty as two characters along with Sarah Gadon, Melanie Laurent and a small role from Isabella Rossellini. The film follows Adam, a history professor who teaches at a local university. One day Adam watches a movie recommended by a friend and notices that one of the background actors looks exactly like him. He then goes to seek this actor out and what follows is a tense trip full of metaphor, suspense and delves into the subconscious of our main character.
Now this film is not for those of you seeking light entertainment; it is an art house film very much in the vein of Under the Skin where it presents more questions than answers and only gives you pieces of a puzzle which you must then figure out. Like Under the Skin the story is rather simple but the way the film can be interpreted is what makes this a layered film. After watching Enemy I had a basic grasp of what this movie was really about (I'm not talking about plot) but I was left thinking about it quite a bit so I went online to see what other people had theorised and most of them confirmed my thoughts though a lot of them also had completely different readings as well.
Enemy is based on the book 'The Double' by Jose Saramago, not the Dostoyevsky novel that has been adapted by Richard Ayoade which I have also been anticipating but will be coming straight to home video in Australia as well (I'll be sure to cover that one once it's released in September). Because of the way the movie is I also felt the need to read about the book it was based on and though it is mostly the same it's the ending that really sets it apart. In the book it is literally about doubles but with the changed ending of the film it's definitely more psychological. That's really all I want to say about the story as I want to avoid any spoilers so that you can experience this film and gather your thoughts about it as well.
The film is very much a slow burn but I was constantly engaged (and at times confounded) and at 90 minutes it's a brisk watch. The cinematography is great and I loved a lot of the images from this film which give even more to read into. It's tense, taught, full of mystery and I couldn't figure things out straight away which is great. The music is both beautiful and haunting at the same time and it's just an all around fantastically made film. Now I don't think it's a masterpiece and I know that has been rather polarising with audiences but I do think it's pretty great and I think I will probably like it even more when I re-watch it so my score could very well change after I post this review.
4 stars out of 5 stars (the same score I gave Prisoners though I found Enemy more intriguing)
Let me know your thoughts and theories in the comments below but make sure you warn people if you're going to be revealing spoilers.
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