Richard Ayoade’s follow-up to Submarine is a visually stunning and darkly funny adaptation of the novella by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Jesse Eisenberg stars as Simon James, a shy, low-ranking employee at an anonymous conglomerate. His banal life is made bearable by his infatuation with a co-worker. Desperate to move up the company ladder but stymied by bureaucracy, his problems are magnified by the appearance of a new inductee, James Simon, who is his double in every way. However, James appears to have no problem rising through the ranks, even threatening to steal the object of Simon’s affection.
Drawing on a Kafka-esque world of administration gone mad and reminiscent of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, The Double is further evidence of Ayoade’s comic genius and brilliance as a filmmaker with a singular vision.