Enemy Review
Right off the bat, this is one of the most thought provoking movies made in a long time. It took me minutes to pick my jaw up after watching this the first time through. I had no idea what had just happened, so I had to go and watch the movie twice straight through. When a film is able to do that, it did something right.
"Chaos is order yet undeciphered."
This quote is something to remember and think about through the whole film. You soon get to meet your characters. The main character being Adam. Adam is a college history professor whose life has become the same every day. Teach, go home have a little fun in bed, go to sleep, repeat. One day a co-worker tells him to watch a certain movie. After watching this movie is life becomes chaos for Adam. I will not spoil what he finds in the movie that changes his life so radically for a lot of fun of this movie is discovering everything for yourself.
The story is just one area this movie excels at, one thing that is instantly noticeable is the color of this movie. Lots of black, lots of yellow in the film (basically a sepia tone). It actually reminds me of Traffic in that sense. If you have seen Traffic and remember how the movie had distinctive color tones to the storylines, it is kind of how this whole movie is. And just gives to that sense of chaos and repetition in the film. It really adds to the feel of the film just drawing the audience in further.
One problem that lots of films have is the predictability factor. Enemy is not one of those films. It isn't necessarily a twist, more than just so well written. Everything in this film is written really well, and makes you think a lot. This is where (even though the movie is extremely good) excels. The whole movie is not predictable at any point in it, especially the end of the movie. The last 30 seconds have the last thing I would have thought would happen, happened, and it terrified me. This isn't even a horror film and the last 30 seconds of this movie, are some of the scariest 30 seconds of film I have ever seen. It is so shocking and unexpected that it was able to do that. And it was the last approach I would think the movie would end to wrap it up.
Enough on the actual story, time to talk about the acting. Every time I start a Jake Gyllenhaal film, I forget just how good he can be. And rarely has he ever been better than he is in here. This performance really shows how deep of a character he can play, and in this movie there isn't a whole lot of backstory to anyone including Jake Gyllenhaal. It just make all the characters seem all the more troubled. He really plays the confused and troubled men really well. He is not the only one that is great in the film, but he is definitely the main actor and has much of the screen time. Other actors include Melanie Laurent, and Sarah Gadon primarily and both do a good job on screen with Mr. Gyllenhaal. Despite the fact that there are other people in the movie, it really is Jake's game. It's all him and he has to carry the movie for almost the whole time.
The emotion that is displayed in this movie by Jake Gyllenhaal is on par with emotion in Prisoners, also directed by Denis Villeneuve, these two I think may become a force to be reckoned with in the near future. Denis Villeneuve has gotten the two best Jake Gyllenhaal performances out of him ever (both Enemy and Prisoners). I can see these two collaborating for a while yet. I'll be completely honest I cannot wait for Denis Villeneuve and Jake Gyllenhaal to work together again, two flawless collaborations, I wonder where they will go next. Where this movie isn't quite as good as Prisoners, it is a great movie in any sense. Everything is perfectly done, perfectly written, and perfectly timed in this film. Another thing, this movie will keep you scratching your head for a long time (I'm still scratching now), it seems not to make any sense at first, but watch it once or twice more times while keeping the opening quote in your mind. According to the director and his co-writer everything has a reason in the movie. I think I have started to catch on after watching it three times, but hey I will probably notice something else the next time I watch it.
Alright, so where does that leave us? Honestly anyone who doesn't want a film that will make them think a lot and a film that they will not be willing to come back to probably won't like this. Although I still recommend that anyone give it a try. Anyone who does like interesting, erotic, and weird thrillers, this is a must see. Enemy is the best movie that can fit all these traits to have come out in a long time. Everything about this film makes it worth watching, and then watching again.
So glad you liked this one. Not a film that, in my opinion, is meant to be "figured out," but one you should let wash over you. And I agree, this is a film that deserves to be watched again and again. A mesmerizing experience.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you mean by "not meant to be figured out", but I myself in general love to think about what movies (particularly confusing movies) mean or are trying to say sometimes. Where I often don't care as well, and often look at the film concerning filmmaking, I do enjoy deciphering movies. I think that started when I first saw 2001: A Space Odyssey and had no clue what it was all about, but had lots of gratification when I did figure it out by myself.
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