The Double

Here's the basic gist- this film is pretty ambitious on a visual level. It's reminiscent of the type of film Lynch would have made in his early days (yes, I got memories of Eraserhead for whatever reason). On a storyline-level, it's more straightforward. You can pretty much guess where the narrative is going and the strings it's going to pull. The film still works however, largely because of its cast. Jesse Eisenberg's performance here stands alongside his Oscar-nominated turn in The Social Network as the best acting he's ever given. It's truly superb work. Wasikowska is also quite effective. The score is effective and sort of haunting. Overall, I wish I'd liked it more, but it's definitely recommended.

If you have problem sleeping, this film will fix it. After watching it for 15 min will will be sleeping like a baby. Boring, pretentious, depressing and not funny at all. The sound is perhaps the best thing about it as well as the acting, which unfortunately gets wasted as you do not feel even the slightest bit of sympathy, let alone to identify, with the main characters. The secondary characters, such as his boss, are simply repetitive stereotypes which one has already seen many, many times before on the screen. In fact this film is so repetitive, that you will be glad it only lasts 90 something minutes. I have red the great reviews about it and it is as if I went to see a different film. Do yourselves a favor, ignore the critics and give it a miss.

I hated this movie in a way I can't remember ever hating a movie before. But I started with high expectations because I usually enjoy books and movies about doubles, and I watched patiently through the first five-to-ten minutes. But the film is so pretentious, so pseudo-artsy, and so totally dependent upon images rather than meaningful dialogue that before long I began to wish the movie over. I very much liked the opening scene where Simon is told to move from his subway seat--reminded me of an Ingmar Bergman film--and the movie does pick up once the double enters. But it's all downhill from here. I've liked Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska in other films, but they seem emotionless and even mechanical in this one. It's been a long time since I've felt so emotionally uninvolved with a film. I'm glad that I saw it On Demand; if I had paid movie prices to see it, I would have been really ticked off.

Ayoade's second film is a confident follow-up to the promising Submarine. Jesse Eisenberg's office worker lacks confidence at work and with women. His double does not have that problem. Ayoade draws plenty of mannered comedy from the protagonist's embarrassment, and tremendous atmosphere from a meticulously shot and lit film. It reminded me of an early Coen Brothers film, or perhaps Jeunet & Caro. If the ending doesn't quite deliver on its promise, it's no great disappointment either. Eisenberg is excellent as both his trademark weed and his double, and the supporting cast are generally excellent. Recommended. (Seen at the London Film Festival.)

After reading the reviews I thought it would be a great movie but was highly disappointed. Brilliant acting but still a waste of time. Don't understand how it's classed as comedy; it's a depressing movie that just drags on. I thought I was the one who didn't understand the story line, but when I spoke to other people(who didn't leave before the movie finished), they also didn't have a clue about what happened. Jesse Eisenberg was brilliant though and so were the other actors. Overall wouldn't recommend watching this movie. There are plenty of better movies out at the moment.

What a dreadful film, boring, unfunny, has no idea what it is meant to be, several people got up & walked out, I was tempted to join them but stuck it through to the end, but wish I had not wasted my time. Described as "comedy", it certainly was not that, references to suicide (actual & attempted) are NOT funny but serious matters. The film did not seem to know where it was going, the characters were totally unconvincing, much of the film was shot in the half dark, difficult to make out what is going on, the diction was poor at times. A waste of an evening and money, a pointless film. Give this one a miss, I wish I had!

It's that time again. The time when Hollywood desperately walks into its nearest library searching for treasure troves to loot. This time the bounty is Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Double. To be frank, I never read it but something tells me I would have had a better time reading about an introvert suffering a mental breakdown instead of watching one on-screen. Books allow us to open our imagination and create limitless worlds filled with the tiniest details with ease. The Double (2013) is charged with the same task but must overcome a tremendous amount of effort and trickery to achieve the same end. --Spoilers past this point-- Case in point: Meet Simon James (Jesse Eisenberg). Simon has a daily routine: he takes the subway to work; he carries a briefcase which holds his identification badge; he checks in with a salty security guard before taking an elevator to his work floor; he sits at his cubicle and efficiently completes his daily tasks (mostly computer work) before heading home and repeating the same routine each proceeding day. He regularly interrupts this routine with daydreams of a young female co-worker, a copyist (irony not missed) named Hannah (Mia Wasikowska), who he wishes to talk to and hopefully start a relationship with but can't quite work up enough nerve even to utter "Hey." Meet James Simon (Jesse Eisenberg). James does not have a daily routine: we're unsure if he takes a subway to work, he just mysteriously appears; he doesn't carry a briefcase but it's not needed because he's good buddies with the security guard; he never sits at a desk, always a buzzing bee slapping co-workers on the shoulder and causing riotous laughs from groups huddled around him; he never does any work, in fact he doesn't even know what they do at this corporation but that doesn't stop him from taking credit for Simon's work; and, yes, it should come as no surprise that he has a way with the ladies and Hannah is in to him. It doesn't take a Russian novelist to notice that these two are mirror opposites of each other. In fact, they are not even two people but one person who is trying to reconcile his loneliness, isolation, and desperation for recognition through manifesting a split personality that he, and others, treat as a separate physical entity. Hannah (notice the palindrome) serves as the catalyst driving Simon/James to a very destructive, yet meaningful, end. The symbolism abounds in this film and leaves audiences with a concussion after clubbing us in the head multiple times with cheap imagery and color cues, repetitive routines (yes, that was on purpose), and stilted dialogue that feels like it could have been lifted (or copied) from the original text. Not to say that any of that is bad in the grand scheme of things but sometimes what's good for the page doesn't necessarily translate well to the screen. The technical aspects of the film were on point. The picture is drenched in a gorgeous greyish yellow and the soundtrack has a nice change of pace with some old Japanese cuts. Eisenberg plays well off himself and can rival Orphan Black's Tatiana Maslany by successfully portraying characters who look identical yet have extremely colorful and distinctive personality traits. Mia didn't have much of an arc to play with but then again it's not her character's movie. Having recently seen Enemy (2013) and having been a long time fan of Fight Club (1999), I'm suffering from a fatigue of sorts by watching these schizophrenic protagonists go to war with themselves. It's time for me to take a break and crack open a book. "No, it's not." Yes, it is...wait...who's there?

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