There is much here to admire formally—the spiders as an ongoing motif and recurring construct
Fantastic silent opening—bizarre and erotic—reminded me of an eyes wide shut meeting
The green/yellow lighting is a bit like a Fincher film and like the opening of joe versus the volcano– you can feel the lighting sucking the like out of you
Wonderful use of urban architecture and the city of Toronto as a character with the establishing shots
Reminded me of Cronenberg’s work—particularly Crash—eerie slow-burn also set in Toronto– and Cronenberg’s aptly named spider from 2002
Doppelganger, paranoia—largely silent- moody and atmospheric—strong sense of dread the entire film—no narrative drive like villeneuve’s films like arrival and sicario
The upside down naked woman with spider head is exactly half-way through the film—not a formal coincidence
Is this Jake Gyllenhaal’s best performance to date?
Zodiac is my favorite film with Gyllenhaal and he gives a great performance in it but I would put his more complex performances in Enemy and Nightcrawler above it:
@Harry – on 2nd thought I would probably switch # 3 and # 4, I have not seen Jarhead and like I said I have only seen Brokeback once although I remeber it being an impressive performance. I wasn’t all that impressed by Southpaw (2015) overall but I think it adds to his range of performances, especially when you contrast it with Nightcrawler (2014) which was made just 1 year earlier as Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom was scrawny, pale, and sickly looking so quite a transformation to playing a boxing champion a year later.
[…] Enemy – Villeneuve […]
Is this Jake Gyllenhaal’s best performance to date?
Zodiac is my favorite film with Gyllenhaal and he gives a great performance in it but I would put his more complex performances in Enemy and Nightcrawler above it:
1. Nightcrawler
2. Enemy
3. Donnie Darko
4. Zodiac
5. Prisoners
Admittingly I have only seen Brokeback Mountain once and it was a while back
I think I’d rank his work in Nightcrawler, Jarhead, Zodiac and Brokeback Mountain higher.
@Harry – on 2nd thought I would probably switch # 3 and # 4, I have not seen Jarhead and like I said I have only seen Brokeback once although I remeber it being an impressive performance. I wasn’t all that impressed by Southpaw (2015) overall but I think it adds to his range of performances, especially when you contrast it with Nightcrawler (2014) which was made just 1 year earlier as Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom was scrawny, pale, and sickly looking so quite a transformation to playing a boxing champion a year later.