BEFORE: This one had just enough of an interesting premise for me to add it to my Netflix queue - of course, I've been known to do that for movies that I never get around to, or I wait too long and they scroll off that service, and then I have to track them down on Hulu or iTunes or YouTube. So far I've been pretty luck in that the important movies that I don't get to on Netflix are then still available SOMEWHERE, it's just a matter of figuring out where.
Jake Gyllenhaal carries over from "October Sky", and you can probably guess where I'm headed after this, even if I hadn't already discussed it.
THE PLOT: A man seeks out his exact look-alike after spotting him in a movie.
AFTER: This is one of those films that could leave you scratching your head, or wondering if you really understood it, or if there was anything there to understand that you might have missed. You may want to watch closely, for several reasons. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but since I don't want to give away any spoilers, I'll try to talk about what this film is NOT all about, rather than what it IS about, that often works well for me.
I can get behind the premise, because anyone who watches a lot of movies is probably familiar with the "Hey, it's THAT guy..." phenomenon, when you see an actor and you know that you've seen him before, but you can't remember where. I do that all the time, out of necessity, because my brain's not going to stop trying to figure it out until I know for sure. I follow a lot of those clickbait links like, "Why that actor in Stranger Things looks so familiar" - only then if I follow that I could learn that he was in the Power Rangers movie, only that doesn't help me because I would never watch a Power Rangers movie. Thanks for wasting my time, though. It also doesn't help if you happen to know a few actors in the real world, because you could go crazy trying to think about what film you saw him in, when it wasn't a film at all, he's a friend of a friend that you've met IRL at a party or something.
But in this film a man, Adam, spots someone in a "local film" that looks exactly like himself, which probably is enough to creep anybody out. There are a lot of Hollywood films that shoot in Toronto, so that part is believable, but I have a harder time with someone renting a "local film". What films are considered "local films" in this age of the global village? There's no such thing any more, is there? And who rents a film these days, like do they still have video stores in Canada, don't they have streaming there yet? I mean, I guess you can rent a film from iTunes or Amazon, but it's weird to hear someone phrase it like that. You'd probably just say, "I watched it on iTunes" without making a distinction between renting or buying, because it doesn't matter. Anyway for the price of renting you can probably get a used DVD for less, the only reason I don't do that more is the convenience factor.
But let's assume that he rents this film - even then, it's a bit odd that a work colleague mentioned this "local film" to him without saying something like, "Hey, there's a guy in that film I saw that looks a bit like you..." or even "Hey, I didn't know you did any acting on the side." But for the sake of continuing with the premise, let's assume that the work colleague wasn't very observant, or maybe he looked away and didn't notice the guy with his face. If I saw a film that had an actor who looked just like my co-worker, I'd like to think that I would notice that. And then I'd probably bring it up, instead of just recommending that film to him - why would I recommend it to him if I thought he was IN IT? That would mean he's aware of the film, and he's probably also seen it already. But again, let's assume for the moment that work colleague was asleep at the switch, and him bringing this film up is a giant coincidence. For some reason, the man takes the recommendation and rents the film, without any indication that his doppelganger is in it - slightly unbelievable, but possible. Maybe he's bored with his life and looking for any entertainment he can get, even a non-glowing review from a colleague is enough to get him to check out a "local film".
All this coincidence seems designed to get these two men who look alike in contact with each other. Now, there are really only a few movie scenarios that allow two characters to look exactly alike - either they're twins separated at birth (or identical cousins, don't laugh, I've seen it before) or they just happen to be two people who look exactly alike - it's either "The Man in the Iron Mask", or it's "The Prince and the Pauper". And if you've read both of those classic tales, then you know they share an important plot point in common, there's really only one reason to have two identical characters, if you think about it.
But "Enemy" kind of complicates things, in a way similar to the way "Fight Club" complicated things (only this is not a Tyler Durden-type situation either, at least I don't think it is.). Adam tracks down the actor, Anthony, and calls him up. Anthony's girlfriend or wife recognizes his voice, and assumes the caller is Anthony - so they have the same voice, so they must be twins. But Adam checks with his mother, who swears she didn't have twins, never gave up one child for adoption, or anything like that. So what IS going on here, if it's neither of the above. I have to refer to either "Memento" or another Jake Gyllenhaal film here, "Donnie Darko", both of which were also very obtuse about what was happening. People debated the meaning of those films for a long while, and it seems that repeat viewings were a big help, so that could also help here.
Of course, we now know through social media that it IS possible to have a doppelganger, because it turns out that there are so many people in the world, and only so many possible facial configurations. So even if humans believed for many years that each individual appears unique, now we know different, and people have gotten in touch with others across the world who look almost exactly like them. But it doesn't seem like that's what's happening in this film, either. Because people would probably treat that as a weird but fortuitous and ultimately positive occurence, and what takes place here is anything but. Umm, I think.
I did see my own doppelganger one time, I think it was at Symphony Hall in Boston, and there was a choir singing on the stage. (Or perhaps this took place during college, when I sang with the NYU Chorale, it's hard to be sure.) There was a tall singer in the choir onstage who looked a lot like me, at least from my balcony seat, enough to set my mind to wondering, anyway. After the performance I came down to the main level and looked for my doppelgänger among the choir members, but I couldn't find him - I thought I saw a tall guy with a ponytail ducking down a staircase, but I followed and couldn't find anyone. All these years later, this feels like maybe it was a dream I had, or if it was real then perhaps I haven't thought about the experience again until now. But it can be a creepy feeling to think that there's another version of me walking around somewhere.
I've already read a few different interpretations of this film, and I can't tell yet if I agree with them, or if they're all rubbish and the meaning of this film is entirely subjective. I have no solid answers - like is there a non-linear timestream at play? Could Adam's mother be lying or unaware that she had twins? Is everything that we've been shown real, or is part of it imaginary? I have no concrete answers, I'm afraid, which is simultaneously baffling and a bit intriguing. Proceed at your own risk, but keep your eyes and mind open, that's my best recommendation.
Also starring Melanie Laurent (last seen in "Beginners"), Sarah Gadon (last seen in "Dracula Untold"), Isabella Rossellini (last seen in "Trespassing Bergman"), Kedar Brown (last seen in "Born to Be Blue"), Joshua Peace (last seen in "Pacific Rim"), Darryl Dinn, Tim Post (last seen in "Fahrenheit 451"), Jane Moffat (ditto), Stephen R. Hart.
RATING: 5 out of 10 German philosophers
No comments:
Post a Comment