REVIEW: The Double

Richard Ayoade's new film The Double has been dubbed a "black comedy", which might be a mistake. I found it more nightmarish than funny - although it certainly has its moments. Adapted from a Fyodor Dostoyevsky novella, it centres around nebbish office worker Simon James (Jesse Eisenberg) who, having gone unnoticed by his office colleagues for seven years, encounters his doppelgänger James Simon (Eisenberg again). James is identical to Simon in appearance but the complete opposite in personality - where Simon is timid and apprehensive, James is extroverted and assertive. While the two initially get along, James soon begins to take over Simon's life, even going behind his back to start a relationship with Hannah (Mia Wasikowska), the object of Simon's romantic intentions. The two are inevitably dragged into a conflict with one another, which escalates into violence and madness.

I found the first thirty minutes of this film difficult to watch. The world Ayoade has created is effectively atmospheric and claustrophobic - the bureaucratic nightmare of endless cubicles and whirring 1980s computers reminded me, in the best possible way, of Terry Gilliam's Brazil - but I found it frustratingly Kafkaesque without the absurd and amusingly sincere prose, more downwardly depressing than satirical. But the film picks up when the promised "double" appears. Eisenberg joins the ranks of Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive) and Jeremy Irons (Dead Ringers) in giving two great performances in one film, somehow maintaining excellent chemistry with, ah, himself. He's perfectly cast, too, since throughout his career he's alternated between playing shy and socially awkward characters (Adventureland, Zombieland) and cocky and brash characters (Now You See Me, The Social Network). And as the film hurtled towards its final frames, each character's lives disintegrating in some way, I found it interesting how the two Eisenberg personalities began to meld, our perception of character becoming unhinged as Simon became darker and more confident, lending an element of mystery to the memorable final shot.

The problem I had was that I didn't engage with the film on an emotional level. I was a fan of Ayoade's previous film, Submarine, which not only was a funnier film but much warmer, too. I suppose I can't fault The Double for not being like Submarine enough; it's a different film, and actually demonstrates a surer understanding of directing on a technical level (the use of a subway train as an aural motif is genius). And Ayoade once again sides with the underdog, which is something I will always love about British cinema. Yet I ultimately found the film depressing, which may be an inevitable by-product of adapting a psychologically complex Russian novella written in the 1800s but, aside from a few touches - Paddy Constantine's cameo in a parody of 80s sci-fi shows is a hilarious highlight - seems distinctly more cynical than I expected.

★★★

REVIEW: Calvary

Is Calvary one of the greatest films to come out of Ireland? Maybe. John Michael McDonagh is certainly one of the country's greatest directors, as is his brother Martin McDonagh. Talk about a talented family. Both made astonishing feature film debuts with The Guard and In Bruges respectively - the former an exceptionally funny and lively hybrid of violent crime drama and domestic British comedy, the latter an equally amusing but much darker tale of redemption (with a blisteringly good performance from Colin Farrell). Yet while Martin McDonagh went to Hollywood to write and direct the disappointing Seven Psychopaths, John Michael McDonagh has stuck around with Calvary, set in his native Ireland and concerned with issues much closer to home.

The shocking opening scene sets the tone of the piece. Brendan Gleeson's priest, Father James Lavelle, listens to a man in a confessional booth, who describes how he was abused by a priest at a young age ("I first tasted semen when I was seven years old") and that in seven days he will kill him despite, or perhaps because, he is a good man. Lavelle thinks he recognises the man but refuses to go to the police, instead going about his daily duties of attending to members of his flock. We see a glimpse into the priest's life as the days count down, and his experiences with the characters of the local village prompt him to grapple with his own mortality.

It's a beautifully made film, with the sweeping shots of the tumultuous coast contrasted with Patrick Cassidy's haunting orchestral compositions. But it's the performances which really make this film work. English actress Kelly Reilly excels as Gleeson's troubled daughter struggling with depression, and Chris O'Dowd doesn't get nearly enough screen time as a potential wife-beater, sure to obliterate everyone's perceptions of the actor as "that guy from The I.T. Crowd". In fact, the only actor I had a problem with was a scenery-chewing Aiden Gillen, essentially playing his Game of Thrones character with an Irish accent. Yet ultimately it's Brendan Gleeson's show; without him the (often stage-like) film would not work since he ties together the loosely connected characters with a towering performance, full of gravitas and sincerity. He's not the archetypal "good priest", he's a man struggling with his demons (he used to be an alcoholic and bar-brawler) who uses faith to find meaning and redemption in the later years of his life.

It's an old-fashioned set of values which he embodies, an image of the church which has become tarnished after years of scandal. McDonagh presents quite an ugly picture of Ireland, where all the locals regard the church with their own brand of hostility and violence can - and does - erupt frequently. And Calvary is a deeply angry film, angry with those who committed atrocities and angry with those who looked away, and the society born out of this tragedy is forever affected by what happened. All this builds to a tremendously powerful final fifteen minutes which, frankly, left me speechless. The greatest film to come out of Ireland? Probably not, if Jim Sheridan has anything to say about it, but it definitely comes close.

★★★★½