Review of The Double (2014) by Maksim B — 30 Oct 2014

The Double is an extremely bleak and visually provocative art-house challenge that polarizes opinions and divides the audience to those who love Richar Ayoade's creepy, dystopian delivery and those who find it unbearably pretentious and flat. Demanding with questionable rewarding value, this movie is definitely a hard to absorb material.

The story is actually more suitable for a theater performance than for the silver screen. Intimate, paranoid, but too flat to impress, The Double's story could much easier be read as a book, than watched as a movie. Simon James is a young, depressed and introvert employee part of a dystopian bureaucratic machine. When he is introduced to a new colleague called James Simon he actually realizes that he is facing his double. A double that is a polarized opposite to Simon and who is about to change Simon's life. While the exploration of Richard Ayoade's dystopian world is to some extent intriguing, the acting as well as the whole setting are way too monotonous. Following the story development after the first 30 minutes becomes an extremely hard task to follow and towards the end there are quite many moments that does not really make sens.

Out of curiosity, the fans of art-house challenges could definitely give a try to Richard Ayoade's movie. Having in mind Ayoade's previous big success, Submarine, it would be probably a disappointment to those who expected something similar to his breakthrough delivery. Way too pretentious without provide a true rewarding for surviving all the 93 minutes, The Double is far from being the cinematographic pleasure I hoped for.