“Chaos is order yet undechipered.”
Québécois Denis Villeneuve with puzzles and twists is one thing; but, this man with puzzles, twists, and a shade of surrealism is a whole new thing, which turns out being a whole new excitement. Adapting José Saramago’s The Double (O Homem Duplicado), Villeneuve experiments with his new flavour—making it looks like David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, more precisely.
Enemy marks Villeneuve’s second collaboration with Jake Gyllenhaal prior to the 2013’s sleeper hit, Prisoners. Enemy sneaks behind Adam Bell (Gyllenhaal), a solitary history professor finds himself identical to an actor who roles in a film recommended by his colleague. Gagged in curiosity, he investigates and stalks this actor, Anthony Claire (Gyllenhaal, again). In an instant, he wishes he would never know this actor.
The edgy Gyllenhaal performs admirably in Enemy. Portraying two characters with completely different natures and… partners (Melanie Laurent and Sarah Gadon), his performance might remind us to his younger body in Donnie Darko—dark, grim, and unpredictable. The tone of this film helps him escalating his sorrowful enchantment, as it stays mysterious during the whole duration and it keeps us puzzled with less dialogues. Enemy relies mostly on Gyllenhaal’s double roles; yet, it also relies on its structured plots that puzzles you not in the way Incendies and Prisoners do, but in its own way.
With eerie scores and bleak, still cinematography, Enemy is more than threatening, it’s putting the claws on your skull. The combinations of long and dynamic shot (frankly, not as shuddering as Roger Deakins’ in Prisoners) and thrilling horror scores leave uncomfortable feeling.
I would say that Enemy’s the 2014’s Mulholland Drive. The plot is structurally overlapping like David Lynch’s masterpieces; some dreamy scenes also have the state of Lynchian, especially those with tarantula and strip club. Fortunately, this kind of thing is the thing I’m fond of—making it the finest film in 2014 for me (with its mind-blowing ending).
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Enemy (2014)
Thriller, Drama Running Time: 90 mins Directed by: Denis Villeneuve Written by: José Saramago (Book) Javier Gullón (Screenplay) Starred by: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon, Isabella Rossellini
IMDB | Official Site
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