Film Review: Enemy (15) (Canada/Spain 2013) (Director: Denis Villeneuve), Filmhouse, Screen Three, Edinburgh, Saturday 03.01.2015, 20:35

I was drawn to this film due to the fact that it is another film staring Jake Gyllenhall and directed by Denis Villeneuve, who previously worked together on 'Prisoners' (2013). Jake plays a university history lecturer who is listless and disinterested in life. A colleague suggests a film he may enjoy and within that film he sees his exact doppelganger who he then pursues. I don't wish to say more regarding the plot, though do feel it is fare to say that the film approaches the idea of a doppelganger in a fresh manner. 

The film makes very good use of lighting to induce a queasy/twilight sort of quality. The editing is done in a manner that, along with Jake's nuanced acting, gives the film a  mysterious/enigmatic quality. Having given the film my full concentration, I am still unraveling it now the day after having seen it. It is not often that can be said in these times where most filmmakers feel they have to spell out exactly what is happening. The sudden ending is both bamboozling and revealing, as long as you don't allow the bamboozling element to lead you to dismiss what you have seen.  

I feel this is a fundamentally more interesting film than 'Prisoners', as good as that was, though don't feel I can go quite as far as saying it is excellent. Jake is developing quite a habit of making very good films that are not quite excellent. I find myself having to give the same rating as 'Prisoners' & 'Nightcrawler' (2014). 

Rating: 09/10.      

Film Review: Nightcrawler (15) (U.S.A. 2014) (Director: Dan Gilroy), The Cameo Cinema Screen One, Edinburgh, Sunday 26.10.2014 11:00 (FREE CAMEO MEMBERS PREVIEW SCREENING) (NOT RELEASED UNTIL FRIDAY 31.10.2014)

This I decided to see due to the level of buzz and the fact it was free for me to go to see. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom, a drifter-bum-chancer who stumbles across 'nightcrawlers' and decides it would be worth his while trying to blag his way into that line of parasitic work. Nightcrawlers are the reprehensible beings that listen in to police signals to find out about crimes to get to as early as possible, to film and sell the footage to news stations.

Jake Gyllenhall is very good as the intensely focused blagger, who is clearly quite happy to spraf hollow shit and quote online-hokum to get where he wants. The portrayal presents the cocky though somehow endearing character who lulls others into a false security of thinking they are smarter than he is and then he turns the tables. Towards the end he nearly takes the manipulating too far, though again knows enough to not be trapped.

The one issue I have with the film is that all of the major characters are morally bankrupt. This certainly includes Mr. Bloom and the head of News within a station called Nina (Rene Russo). Though it is not a stretch to imagine that this may be close to the reality as to how some of these enterprises operate. This can make the film more complex in terms of trying to engage with as it is hard to care for any of the major characters. The only moral relief comes in the forms of  police pursuing Mr. Bloom, who regrettably only get very limited screen time & Mr. Bloom's assistant for most of the film, Rick (Riz Ahmed) is just a desperate schmo trying to hold down work that pays without having to prostitute himself (which sadly in a way he still lands up doing).

The film is engaging and Jake's performance is very impressive, though I feel it is difficult to call this a great film. This is despite the fact that it presents its story without judgement/moral-hand-wringing.

Rating: 09/10.