The Double: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
Simon (Jesse Eisenberg) 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 (Jesse Eisenberg), serves to upset the balance. James is both Simon’s exact physical double and his opposite – confident, charismatic and good with women. To Simon’s horror, James slowly starts taking over his life.
This was yet another film that I walked into blindly and had no idea what to expect. Right from the start the film had this surreal feel to it with the way it was shot and the how the sets were constructed. It was extremely nice to see. There isn’t enough of that sort of thing in recent cinema and I hope we start to get more of it. It was practically Hitchcockian in spirit which I loved. The story isn’t going to be for everybody. It has its moments that are off the wall and a bit mind boggling but it’s not too hard to see where the film is going but even with that it’s just so good. The film’s ending is one of those that you will not know what to make of it initially but upon a second viewing all these different theories started to pop in my head. I won’t talk about any of them because in doing that it will completely give away the ending but I think you can catch my drift on what kind on film this is. Magnolia Home Entertainment has had such a fantastic track record at showcasing and introducing films to the masses that are unconventional and out of left field which more people should take advantage of. So do yourself a favor and grab this film the first chance you get and indulge in the mind-bending film that will leave you questioning everything.
Special Features:
Cast and Characters – The cast describes what it was like playing their characters and what they brought to the table.
Creating The Double: The Story and Design – The crew talk a bit about what it was like to bring such a crazy and visually interesting film to life.
Behind the Scenes Comparisons – A pretty cool feature that shows a bit of BTS footage with a small screen that shows the finished product
Interview with Director Richard Ayoade – A great feature with the director Richard Ayoade and it really made me wish that it was a lot longer.
AXS TV: A Look at The Double – The usual EPK that takes snippets from the various features.
