Film Review: Enemy

ENEMY

Saw ENEMY, the new film from Canadian filmmaker – and who is fast becoming one of my new favorites! – Denis Villenueve ("Incendies", "Prisoners") last night and I am still contemplating what I saw! Yup, nearly 24 hours later I am still undecided of what I saw. It's a brilliant piece of moviemaking, no doubt. The dramatic and tense musical score and the captivating photography are topnotch! And, oh yes, the blurb in the poster to the right is accurate. It's a hypnotic psychological thriller that does not hide anything from the viewer but you still find yourself questioning whether what you are seeing unfold on screen is really what you are "meant" to be seeing! Do you follow my drift? It's an adaptation of Nobel-winning author Jose Saramago's "The Double" and I think I have to grab that book now!

But not until I have satisfactorily concluded what that "closing" scene meant, that is.

I love movies that continue to live with you and challenge your ability to perceive what is real and what is imagined. "Enemy" could be both of that or it could be just a traditional thriller (but a superb one!)  

The film opens with an elaborate private show featuring a captivated audience, semi-naked performers, a silver tray and a tarantula and just when the arachnid was about to be squished the scene fades and it quickly jumps to a scene inside a university classroom where we are introduced to Adam Bell (Jake Gylenhaal), an assistant history professor. 

Adam is a loner. He has a girlfriend but he would rather grade papers than sleep with her. During a casual conversation with a colleague about movies, he was enticed to rent a movie that he was promised would be worth his time. When he finally decides to watch it, he realizes that a character actor in the movie looks exactly like him. He is intrigued and decides to investigate.

But is there really another Adam Bell? Is everything an illusion? The movie has this ominous feel about it. From the chosen camera angles, the creepy musical score, the color palette, and the constant reminder of that arachnid introduced during the film’s opening sequence to make you continually doubt yourself.

This is the 3^rd Denis Villeneueve film that I have seen and this one feels so different from his previous two films. Heck, it’s unlike other most movies! The closest I can liken it to would be to the works of the two Davids: Cronenberg and Lynch.

It’s not an easy movie to watch but when you decide to come along with Adam as he aggressively pursues his double, you will find yourself questioning whether what you are experiencing is just a product of Adam cleansing himself of whatever guilt or whether Adam is the imagined alter ego of the actor in the movie. If both are real, fine. But how do you explain the movie’s ambiguous ending? And if one is imagined, which one was real and which one was imagined. Was Melanie Laurent as Mary just an object of guilt and does not really exist? Was Sarah Gadon as Helen, the real wife or the imagined one? So many questions; so many mysteries! Whatever conclusion you end up with, you will find yourself questioning yourself just a minute later. If you find this review to be insufferably confused, don’t take it against the movie – take it against me and my equally wandering and curious mind.

I know I should wrap this review but as I am trying to close this another thought came up: Yes, Adam and the actor, Anthony St. Claire, did meet face to face but nobody was a witness to any of their meetings. Only the viewer knows. When Helen "confronts" Adam to confirm that he does exist, she frantically dials Anthony’s number which was conveniently answered as soon as Adam exits the scene. When Adam has dinner with his mom (Isabella Rossellini), she casually drops a request to her son that I am sure is another clue.

Here’s my conclusion – for now, that is: The actor was the real person. Adam was the imagined double. Everything else, I will have to get back to you. Meantime, watch the movie when it opens in theaters in March. Or, if you have DirecTV, you can watch it on VOD.

Rating: 5 super enthusiastic stars!

XXX

Raymond Lo