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Film: The Double (15)

A Kafkaesque-style thriller which draws heavily on Terry Gilliam's Brazil

The Double (15)

Directed by Richard Ayoade

4 Stars

Richard Ayoade's follow-up to his quirky and sublime Submarine is a rather surreal, Kafkaesque-style thriller which draws heavily on Terry Gilliam's Brazil.

Based on Dostoevsky's novella about a government clerk who is driven insane, it stars Jesse Eisenberg as the timid and hardworking Simon James whose life is slowly usurped by his new co-worker and doppleganger James Simon (also Eisenberg) who is everything Simon aspires to be.

Eisenberg excels himself in both roles while Ayoade shows enormous skill and flair in tackling this deliciously dark and subversive tale which is Brazil meets Fight Club.

I couldn't help thinking this is the film Gilliam should have made instead of the unfathomable mess that was The Zero Theorem.

Maria Duarte

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