Movie #16 - The Double

What can I say about this movie?  Not much without giving anything away.  The Double is a bit of a sci-fi film based on a novella by famed Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky.  It's sci fi in theme more than setting though as the setting is a fantastic blend of futuristic time period but retro industrial setting.  It's like the future turns into the 1950s somehow.  The basic storyline follows a young man, Simon James, who is struggling to make an impression - at work, on the co-worker he admires, on the waitress at his local café, at life in general really.  Simon's life is extremely drab.  Then a new employee arrives at his work, named James Simon.  James is everything Simon is not - popular, climbing the corporate ladder, good with the ladies.  So why does nobody but Simon realise that James looks exactly like Simon?  Mystery!

This film is really quite unusual and I found myself thinking "what the hell is going on here"?  But if you just go with it and let yourself be swept up in the mystery you will find a very satisfying conclusion to work through.  But it is pretty unusual.  And that I lay at the feet of second-time director Richard Aoyade, still best known here for playing Moss on The I.T. Crowd (tv show).  The plot, setting and theme could not be more different than his first film, Submarine.  And yet both films have a strong quirk factor and a very light directorial touch which lets the characters find their own way almost.

Jesse Eisenberg is a huge favourite of mine and here he gets to show a new side of himself playing both Simon and James.  Simon is Jesse's usual sympathetic shy awkward guy but he excels at playing James, Mr Confident.  On double duty exploring the concept of what you sometimes have to do to be the person you want to be, he never lets the performance slip.  Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) is luminous as Hannah, the co-worker Simon admires from both afar and up close at work.  There are very few other roles in the movie to comment on.

Hopefully this review has made you curious enough to give this little film flying under the radar some attention.  In Brisbane it's only showing at one cinema - Schonell Theatre at the Uni of Queensland, St Lucia.  A pain I know, but we had a fun date night eating delicious authentic Italian style pizza at the Schonell Pizza Caffe and then the movie.  Two movie tickets and a pizza big enough to share for dinner for $25 total.  Value!