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enemy, Jake Gyllenhall.

Ted CTed C Posts: 11,731
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Finally got round to watching this tonight. I had actually bought the US DVD last year but never got round to seeing it.

Gyllenhall plays a college professor stuck in a mundane existence, going through the motions with his girlfriend.

One day he see's a movie and notices an extra in the background that is the image of him. He becomes intrigued and tracks down the actor, and indeed the person is an exact double of himself. He becomes obsessed with this 'double', and eventually forces a meeting.

It's a film that works on different levels and subtexts. It's not a conventional movie about identical twins or sci-fi or anything like that, however it does have elements of Fight Club, and also the Roger Moore film The Man Who Haunted Himself.

It's a film you have to be in the right mood for - its very, very bleak, the landscape looks almost desolate, colour is very muted, with lots of urban tower blocks and office buildings.

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    dodradedodrade Posts: 23,851
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    I liked but just as I was expecting a third act it ends rather suddenly.
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    necromancer20necromancer20 Posts: 2,548
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    I really enjoyed Enemy, it reminded of Brad Anderson's The Machinist in many ways. Same desolate vibe, the strange music and one or two similar ideas. I wonder why it never got a cinema release here in the UK.
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    GPGP Posts: 84
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    wtf was that ending about? did i miss something?
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    RebelScumRebelScum Posts: 16,008
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    I got round to watching Enemy last night (it's now on Sky's On Demand). Definatley one you have to think about, and then watch again.
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    ParthenonParthenon Posts: 7,499
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    I enjoyed it a lot, the ending was a bit of a head-scratcher. Jake Gyllenhaal has been on a hot streak for a few years now. He and Denis Villeneuve should definitely make more films together. I love Villeneuve's bleak, suspenseful atmospheres.
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    stripedcatstripedcat Posts: 6,689
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    I watched it a while ago. I was sort of worried how much the whole döppleganger thing would be similar to "The Double". It's an interesting film - but I did find it sort of unsatisfied, perhaps the last act didn't help it. The whole themes of identity were interesting. I might do a re-watch of it.
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    MrSuperMrSuper Posts: 18,543
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    I saw this twice in the cinema just to get my head around it. It's kind of genius, but definetely a head scratcher. It also contains one of the best endings (or should i say most shocking ending) to a film i've ever seen! WTF?! I almost jumped out of my seat!!! Freaky as f*ck. Did NOT see that coming!

    Enemy, Prisoners, Nightcrawler, Southpaw and the forth-coming Everest. He's definetely on a streak.
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    stripedcatstripedcat Posts: 6,689
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    MrSuper wrote: »
    I saw this twice in the cinema just to get my head around it. It's kind of genius, but definetely a head scratcher. It also contains one of the best endings (or should i say most shocking ending) to a film i've ever seen! WTF?! I almost jumped out of my seat!!! Freaky as f*ck. Did NOT see that coming!

    Enemy, Prisoners, Nightcrawler, Southpaw and the forth-coming Everest. He's definetely on a streak.


    Yeah - Jake is marking himself as a pretty good actor. Btw - I loved Night Crawler - thought that was very original as a film - probably last year's best - and Jake was really creepy and great in that as Lou Bloom.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 41
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    MrSuper wrote: »
    I saw this twice in the cinema just to get my head around it. It's kind of genius, but definetely a head scratcher. It also contains one of the best endings (or should i say most shocking ending) to a film i've ever seen! WTF?! I almost jumped out of my seat!!! Freaky as f*ck. Did NOT see that coming!

    Enemy, Prisoners, Nightcrawler, Southpaw and the forth-coming Everest. He's definetely on a streak.


    For me he's one of the finest actors of his generation, there's an intensity to his performances that rivals DeNiro's early work imo.
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    dodradedodrade Posts: 23,851
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    The Prof. wrote: »
    For me he's one of the finest actors of his generation, there's an intensity to his performances that rivals DeNiro's early work imo.

    I still think he has yet to better his tour de force performance in Bubble Boy :-)
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    Ben_CaesarBen_Caesar Posts: 307
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    The Prof. wrote: »
    For me he's one of the finest actors of his generation, there's an intensity to his performances that rivals DeNiro's early work imo.

    LOL...no. I think it shows how poor a state American acting is in general that people over that side of the pond in particular have been overrating Gyllenhaal beyond belief. Such a meek actor but thinks he's one of the big boys. He's not original with his choices. Heck his recent weight changes aren't original either.

    He was terribly bland in Enemy, that movie belonged to the director. The only remarkable performance he's even come close to giving was Nightcrawler where he used his goofy puppy dog eyes to good effect.

    People have been jumping on the Gyllenhaal bandwagon when there are far superior actors of his generation. Forget De Niro :D
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    ratty0ratty0 Posts: 2,720
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    I have this on my to-watch list for the weekend so it's interesting to read a little about it - I haven't read much at all - purposefully as I tend to avoid reading about films before seeing them (I only want a very vague idea of the theme). It's helpful to know that it's a bit bleak/grey so that I don't expect the opposite though.

    I'll try and return to this thread after watching to see if I agree with you all.

    I do really rate Jake G as an actor. Ben_Caesar: preference is subjective so it's perfectly fine for people to express they like him - and for you to express you don't - but perhaps avoid presenting your opinions as fact and avoid saying that people's opinions are wrong!
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    Ben_CaesarBen_Caesar Posts: 307
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    ratty0 wrote: »
    I have this on my to-watch list for the weekend so it's interesting to read a little about it - I haven't read much at all - purposefully as I tend to avoid reading about films before seeing them (I only want a very vague idea of the theme). It's helpful to know that it's a bit bleak/grey so that I don't expect the opposite though.

    I'll try and return to this thread after watching to see if I agree with you all.

    I do really rate Jake G as an actor. Ben_Caesar: preference is subjective so it's perfectly fine for people to express they like him - and for you to express you don't - but perhaps avoid presenting your opinions as fact and avoid saying that people's opinions are wrong!

    Of course it's opinion, though I shouldn't have to feel the need to say 'IMO' at the end of every opinionated post. For a good decade since he started out he was vacant in every movie he starred in. Even in good movies like Zodiac and Prisoners (sorry Jake, just because you blinked a lot in the last movie doesn't mean you gave a good performance) he merely just existed in the movies whilst being overshadowed by better actors.
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    ratty0ratty0 Posts: 2,720
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    Well, I watched Enemy at the weekend and I'm afraid I was quite disappointed. I read a review/analysis afterwards though which did help me improve my opinion of the film overall (as it explained things in great detail) but I would still hesitate to recommend it.

    I felt as if
    you realise the schizophrenic nature of the character quite early on, and from there on in it isn't very intriguing. The thing that helped my opinion from the review/analysis was the time order, which I hadn't fully appreciated during the film.

    But I felt it was a bit of a let down - sorry. And that also goes for Jake G's performance at times!
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