Yesterday I saw the new movie Enemy. Despite the American nationality of its star, Jake Gyllenhaal, the movie is foreign—and artsy—and thus has a limited release, which is a shame because this is the best theater experience I’ve had in years.
In Enemy, Gyllenhaal plays a college history professor who rents a movie on DVD and spots his exact lookalike as one of the actors. He obsesses over the coincidence, eventually tracking down and confronting the doppelgänger, and that’s about all the plot you should know before seeing this movie.
Enemy reminds me of David Lynch’s last movie, Mulholland Drive. Its plot centers around a mystery of identity among people and places that are a little shy of normal, and the movie doesn’t rush to reveal answers. Enemy kept me in awe from the beginning till the end credits, despite me being baffled and on edge and creeped out. Writing this short review makes me want to see it again.
