Watched: The Double

This is the kind of film I would consider true horror. There isn't really any gore and I think most people would say it's less frightening and more psychologically intense but any store about a person being edged out of their own life (spoiler alert) really gets under my skin (see also: Enemy, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Single White Female). And Jesse Eisenberg perfectly plays both roles; he embodies the meek Simon James who finds himself incrementally being jostled and degraded and erased from his own life, separated from his sense of worth as well as he does the James Simon role, his suave doppelganger who is everything he wishes he could be, right down to the slightly unhinged psychosis. All the performances in this are really good, in fact, and it's nice to see so many of Richard Ayoade's former costars and collaborators come back to play here.

It probably goes without saying that the cinematography/direction choices are so interesting and appropriate (unsurprising for the director of Submarine) but I also loved the sound design, which very strategically does not always connect with the action (for example, one set of very methodical footsteps when both our protagonist and his double are walking together down the hallway, and which continue for several seconds after they have stopped walking). That along with the soundtrack really work together with the lighting, staging, and costuming to give this a claustrophobic, joyless feel that is perfectly for a story set in an unidentified time (it seems vaguely 60s-ish) or place. It's interesting to me that the inspiration for this comes from a Dostoevsky novel because it feels so Kafkaesque, I was getting definite The Trial vibes from the horror of Simon Jame's small and insignificant life.

Rear Window much?

Hey! The guy from Submarine!

This shot is just perfect.

Hey, it's Sally Hawkins!

  

  

  

Hey, it's Chris O'Dowd!

This guy played the security guard of the company for the first two acts of the film which made this reveal and his unnaturally still posture/perturbed facial expression that much more disturbing.