Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Jesse Eisenberg | ... | Simon / James | |
Mia Wasikowska | ... | Hannah | |
Wallace Shawn | ... | Mr Papadopoulos | |
Yasmin Paige | ... | Melanie | |
Noah Taylor | ... | Harris | |
James Fox | ... | The Colonel | |
Cathy Moriarty | ... | Kiki | |
Phyllis Somerville | ... | Simon's Mother | |
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Gabrielle Downey | ... | Strange Woman |
Jon Korkes | ... | Detective | |
Craig Roberts | ... | Young Detective | |
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith | ... | Guard / Doctor | |
Susan Blommaert | ... | Liz | |
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Bruce Byron | ... | Skinhead |
J. Mascis | ... | Janitor (as J Mascis) |
Simon is a timid man, scratching out an isolated existence in an indifferent world. He is overlooked at work, scorned by his mother, and ignored by the woman of his dreams. He feels powerless to change any of these things. The arrival of a new co-worker, James, serves to upset the balance. James is both Simons exact physical double and his opposite - confident, charismatic and good with women. To Simons horror, James slowly starts taking over his life. Written by StudioCanal
This is a seriously weird and disturbing movie that initially looks like it's going to come across as a bit of a 21st Century downmarket version of Brazil. Our hero experiences a sequence of unsettling events, seemingly unconnected and apparently trivial to a degree, although clearly aiming to tee up some of the later action.
The lighting, the sounds, the camera shots are all wonderfully done, setting a disturbing and unsettling atmosphere that gently but with increasing urgency begins to throw a blanket of latent claustrophobia across characters and happenings. We witness curious incidents and are left to guess their significance, our hero reaches out to the girl but is beaten to the jump by....who exactly?
How much of what we see actually takes place is questionable. How much some of the latter scenes make sense even more so. Yet, as it twists and turns towards the denouement, I found myself gripped and engaged to an uncommon degree. It is a difficult movie as it winds up, no question, but I find the notion that anyone feeling suicidal needs warning before viewing as slightly hysterical.
On the one hand, this is an easy film to describe, whether you reference the source material, or your talk about the doppleganger and what it might be like to find one has a double. Yet on the other hand, it's almost impossible to sum this up after one viewing, as there felt like there are so many little bits and pieces that suddenly reveal themselves to your eyes and ears. that you're forced to think about going back to sit back through it again. The question is, which one of you will go...?