In my opinion a good
psychological thriller has to have 3 strong elements. 1. It should be a story
that’s close to everyday situations where most viewers can relate to. 2. It
should have the capacity to grab the viewer from the throat and squeeze in to
their brains without much effort. 3. It should have and ending without an
ending that’s so mysterious that different viewers should have different
opinions about it. In short a good psychological thriller is a movie that some
would despise and some would break their brains to get right. And Enemy has all
those qualities and I was stricken by its force. After many days of watching it
and reading ample material on the net about what it really is still I don’t
know if I got it right or not.
Abad Bell (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a
history professor who lives a mundane and a very routine life. He teaches in
day time and has no interests of anything else as such. He has a girlfriend but
her visits and time spent also part of his dull routine. But one day after
recommended by someone he goes out of his routine and rents a movie. After
watching the movie he realizes that there was a minor character actor that just
looks exactly like him. Abad get obsessed with meeting this look alike actor.
Though the plot sounds neat and
tidy the representation of it is mind scattering. There are skeptical twists
that wraps the whole story and deeper it goes complicated it becomes. As there
are only few words spoken and it seems like every line has its contribution
towards a twisted meaning. And the peculiar cinematography always concentrates
on cityscapes and shapes which are most of the time have less people and seemed
isolated just like our main character. And when it’s combined with the eerie
music the movie creates a mysterious atmosphere amongst the vastly seeing urban
landscapes. All in all the look and feel of Enemy itself is a psychological
mystery.
Performance wise Jake brings back
his Donny Darko (2001) mood and it’s very good. His facial expressions contributes
to his powerful character (or should I say characters) and his confusion over
his own behavior is clearly shown. Jake makes Enemy even better. Enemy is
directed by Denis Villeneuve who was recently well known for Incendies (2010)
and Prisoners (2013). Being a big fan of both, Enemy is another valued addition
to Denis’s high marks in my book.
Sadly the irony of writing a
review about a psychologically thriller is that very less can be told about its
plot unless you tend to reveal lot and spoil it for many. Therefore, other than
saying Enemy is a piece of cinema that fried my brain cells more than ones and
has one of the most twisted “WTF” endings I will not say anything further.
p.s If you have seeing this movie already and looking for some explanation this is a good place to look
Genre: Thriller | Mystery
Director: Denis Villeneuve
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