Skip to main content

The Double (2013)

I can typically create a film summary in just a sentence. On other occasions, I come up against a movie like The Double that just tickles my brain with its many, many (obvious) sources of inspiration and it leaves me scrambling to wrap up the details into just one tasty morsel.

Double is best described as "compellingly weird". It has the visual quality of a music video or like something Spike Jonze directed in the early 90's (Being John Malkovich or Adaptation). Smoosh that together with the surrealist dystopian masterpiece,  Brazil. Sprinkle on top the nagging feeling that Alex Proyas could have made it in between The Crow and Dark City. Mix the whole thing up and it feels like the perfect marriage of Jim Jarmusch and Wes Anderson.  Whew.

The story is reminiscent of Metropolis, and carries with it a similar soul crushing feeling about industrialization and the mechanization of humanity. There is an excess of subtext around feeling like you don't exist. Double also has a bit of the emotional tone of Mary and Max; primarily sad, yet somehow up-lifting or hopeful or just not all together depressing. On top of all of this is the undeniable specter of 1984, shrouding the entire story in this uber-controlled nightmare.

If I didn't pause here to bring up the elephant in the room, I'd be a very, very poor movie blogger. Call me "ruined by Fight Club", but really? I can't watch a surrealist movie in which a shy man is suddenly befriended by a guy who is completely his opposite WITHOUT thinking they are actually THE SAME person. A thought that is challenged or complicated by the fact that the two men in question are played by the same actor. Twist this one any way you like, it is still the key to understanding this movie and will tell you how things are going to end.

Overall enjoyable and absolutely sure to make those who get squirmy during awkward moments extremely uncomfortable.

You can get the NPR take here, in case you trust those folks more than me. You don't, do you?...

And you can watch the trailer here:



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rebuttal: 17 Disturbing Horror Movies You Will Never Watch Again

When I'm not watching movies, I'm reading about movies. I stumble across all kinds of articles, blog posts, book excerpts, etc. in my quest to absorb as much movie knowledge as possible. Now, I'm snotty and loud-mouthed and opinionated but I'd never begrudge another human their opinion. Seriously. You're absolutely welcome to have any opinion about any thing you want. However, I must warn you, if I think your opinion is stupid, I'm absolutely going to say so. I've recently stumbled on an article completely  brimming with so many idiotic opinions that I'm actually compelled to craft a response. Here's the gist of the original article: there are some horror movies out there that are so disturbing , you'll only ever want to watch them once. I've have taken her original list and refuted her claims without pulling her entire article over. You can read the original article here . Let's start at the beginning, with her opening statement
Post a Comment
Read more

Escape From Tomorrow

I love creative people who are willing to take risks with their art. I appreciate the refusal to do things by the rules. I'm also terribly impatient with mediocrity. Enter  Escape From Tomorrow . Created by a team of rogue filmmakers, the movie was shot in the video mode of high-end still cameras. Actors shared scripts and shooting locations across their smartphones. Shot on location at Disney World, the parks were completely unaware this was all going on right under their mouse ears. I wanted to love Escape From Tomorrow. More than that, I wanted to be completely taken with its ingenuity and creativity and - oh yes - its originality. And there is really a simple brilliance to their covert plan; all families are roaming around the parks, taking videos and chatting on their phones. Just blend the fuck in, act like you belong, and you won't get caught. Too bad the movie can be summed up as: ambitious but Rubbish. As you can imagine (or possibly know), there was a ton of con
1 comment
Read more

Mother!

Alright friends and readers–this one is probably doubly filled with typos and grammar errors because I wrote it while angry. Good luck and happy reading. There are unpopular opinions in every realm. As a film student, you can truly strike a nerve when you say things like, "I fucking hate the self-indulgence of independent films and the way people idolize them." Or, you know, "Low lighting and slow pacing does not a good movie make." Or whatever. You can of course, objectively, understand how this happens. When you are creating art–when you are outside the system  so to speak–you are free to explore things (subjects, techniques, etc.) that may need to be addressed and that freedom can become intoxicating and go to one's head. While it may seem only right  or only fair  to respect and accept each creative endeavor that every artist undertakes, it is unreasonable to believe that the world will remain forever patient with the self-obsession artists have. Th
Post a Comment
Read more