esrosedotblog

This is Dostoevsky's great novel brought to life in modern times. Well, modern times with a dystopian twist.

The Double (2013)

with Jesse Eisenberg in the two roles as Simon James and James Simon, doubles in two parallel universes.

There are a lot of surprises in this film, not the least of which is Jesse Eisenberg in an extremely taxing role as two look-alikes who also share the same "life". He is very good.

The challenge here is to split the situations he faces in two and see the confusion created by the existence of a double who inhabits the same space. They happily did not go for radical differences. In fact he is the same person being doubled. You will see how this works. It is not an impostor film. It is really him doubling himself. The point of view, fortunately, is from one of the two, not both. That would be too much. We live with "the original".

For the most part, they carry this off very well. I was into it for most of the time.

It helps to have vivid characters surrounding the two guys. These provide continuity and, since no one else is aware of what is happening, the frustration inherent in doubling is, well, doubled.

I think that this could just be an empty stunt but they have avoided that somehow and I was with it from beginning to end.

There is not much of a story since most of the weight is on the question of which James or Simon is doing the do.

I liked it. I must admit to a bit of headache as a result. But a good headache.

Once was enough for me so that makes it a 3 out of Netflix5. I only need to let my head swim like this once per plot.

Labels: films