Review of The Double (2014) by Nicholasbert — 03 Aug 2014

Not the worst, but the film's constantly poor lighting and a frustrating performance by Jesse Eisenberg make The Double quite unenjoyable and, all in all, boring. It was a good take on Dostoevskij, capturing the essential feel of anguish and the bureaucratic machine as pictured in the novel, but in my opinion lacked stronger acting. I didn't like it, but I can easily see why someone else would: its cinematography is great (although, as in Enemy, all the sets are extremely dark), the direction is cool, quite unusual, and the story - originally a harsh critique of Tsarist bureaucracy - can be applied to modern-day cubicle workers.

Also, having the office a little bit bigger might have helped, since it is kind of unbelievable that nobody knows Simon when it looks like only fifteen people work there.