Enemigos idénticos

Adam Bell (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a history professor at UGT in Toronto. He lives a tired monotonous life with his girlfriend Mary (Mélanie Laurent). On a recommendation, he rents a movie and finds a bit actor named Daniel Saint Claire who looks exactly like him. After some searching, he finds that Daniel's real name is Anthony Claire and he's married to the pregnant Helen (Sarah Gadon).

Adam's life is tired and boring. I get that point. In fact, I get that point within the first five minutes. It needs to move faster to get to the heart of the movie. It's an unnecessarily slow start. Once it gets going, this has a nice sense of paranoia and unrealism. Everything including the setting, the props, the music, the grayish tones, and the brutal architecture gives off a weird 70s hyper-unreal feel to the movie. Then there is the spider thing. I'm fine with not able to explain it myself. It may be better that there is no easy resolution. I can live off of the mood of the movie by itself.

Denis Villeneuve, whose last two films were the hugely impressive Incendies and Prisoners, has concocted a real oddity here. If you can imagine David Lynch adapting a Kafka novel, then you will be in the right neighborhood! In Incendies and Prisoners,Villeneuve inserted serious moral and social issues in the context of first rate thrillers' Here he follows the same tradition but the tone is more abstract and absurd. Neverherless, Enemy, adapted from a novel by the Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago, is always gripping and totally fascinating. A man (Jake Gyllenhaal) gets a recommendation from a colleague to watch a particular video. The main actor in the video appears to be his doppelgänger and the two agree to meet. To reveal any more would lessen the enjoyment of this highly original film. Well worth catching.

In Toronto, the college professor of Politics Adam Bell (Jake Gyllenhaal) lives a routine life with his girlfriend Mary (Mélanie Laurent). One day, he watches a rented DVD and sees an obscure supporting actor very alike to him and Adam becomes obsessed find him out. He discovers that his name is Anthony Claire and he is married with Helen (Sarah Gadon), who is six-month pregnant. Adam meets Anthony but soon he realizes that it was a mistake since his counterpart has put his eyes on Mary. Soon their lives become entwined.

"Enemy" is not a good movie, but has an intriguing story by José Saramago. For me, a good movie is able to present the story with neither the need of reading the novel not researching explanation in Internet. "Enemy" is a movie where the viewer needs to watch with attention, seek explanation in Internet (for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9AWkqRwd1I provides a good explanation of the movie) and watch it again. Therefore the screenwriter fails in his script. Anyway it is intriguing and when you see it for the second time, it is worthwhile. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Homem Duplicado" ("The Duplicated Man")

Enemy is the latest thriller from Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, and it stands as a hybrid mix of David Lynch and David Fincher at their very finest. Enemy follows Adam (Jake Gyllenhaal) on a journey to find his exact lookalike named Anthony, a terrible D-list celebrity. As his investigation deepens, the mystery thickens and he is thrown into a fray way above his head. What works in Enemy is Gyllenhaal's fearless performance as a man who is searching to find who he really is. There are a couple scenes that he has where is truly riveting and it becomes so hard to take your eyes off the screen. It really is an explosive yet very contained performance that I feel needs a lot of recognition. Enemy marks itself as a film about identity and never knowing who you truly are and the pressures of wanting to become something you're not. While it remains as a heavy message, it still makes for a film that almost demands repeat viewings. At 90 minutes even, the film moves and never slows down enough for us to even breathe. Before we can even question what is going on in one scene, Villeneuve throws us another curve ball to contend with. While that may bring confusion to many people, it is very welcoming to a viewer in the mood to do some serious thinking. Anything beyond that, it may garner some negative responses especially if you're not paying close attention. Enemy works well as a psychological thriller, bringing some of the most disturbing images I've seen on screen in recent years. This film is NOT scary, but it is extremely uneasy and very creepy, especially towards the last twenty minutes of the film, which had me holding my breath as we finally discover the truth of what is going on.

Overall, this is one hell of a film that really does almost require a second (and possibly a third) viewing. I highly recommend it, especially to fans of David Lynch's Eraserhead. The images are memorable, the performances are very well rounded and this is just a very very well done film.

The proper way to watch this film is to be committed to working your hardest to decipher it. I believe the only real satisfaction could be from putting the pieces together in a way that comes to a logical conclusion that you feel comfortable with, because Enemy will not hand it over to you. I failed to commit this much mental fortitude and my viewing experience suffered because of it.