Enemy

A formally captivating film with brutal yellow camera filter, lots of industrial shots, a properly suffocating atmosphere and ambient music: psychedelic like crazy, or Villeneuve showing what his greatest asset is. I understood the content, but not the spider metaphors escaped me. The attempt to be the second Lynch seems unnecessary to me; I actually liked the more classical Prisoners more, where the director played similarly with the camera, the dark atmosphere, and amazingly stylized music, but it was more emotional, less of a mindfuck, and got under my skin very well. (2014-07-14)

Enemy put me in a mental trance that only Shutter Island, Femme Fatale and the best David Lynch movies have ever given me. This captivating and chilling vision from another world hit me right in the heart. Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. (2015-03-30)

After I saw Sicario, I started believing that Denis Villeneuve was a genius among contemporary directors. So, when his movie Enemy, which received mixed reviews, was said to appear on TV, I didn’t hesitate a single moment. The fuckup is that when I was watching it for the first time, I totally dozed off and I had to catch the rest the next day. Enemy is no simple movie. And the first 30 minutes even more so. At first sight, nothing seems to be happening. After watching the final scene, however, you will feel as if everything happened in it because you won’t understand anything in the movie at all. Generally speaking, however, I think that this might be the worst movie with a deranged character, who on top of everything suffers from a split personality. Such stories rarely disappoint, but this one disappointed me quite a bit. (2015-11-21)

I felt downright disappointed immediately after the screening. Unlike other films with unsatisfactory and unclear endings, Enemy woke in me a desire to know what is really hiding in the back. And the more I think back about it, the better I find it. In any case, it’s been long since a film messed with my head so much. (2014-03-22)

For those who prefer simpler films that don’t require much mental effort, Enemy might not be the best choice. It’s a truly original film, but at first glance, it leaves a somewhat fragmented impression on the viewer. Personally, the film grew on me over time, but I still don’t have a full grasp of everything that happened. I also turned to a 25-minute video on YouTube, which helped piece together most of the fragments and solidify my opinion about the film. I see it as a surreal attempt with allegorical elements. It’s definitely not just pure drama. Jake Gyllenhaal handled the dual role (was it actually a dual role?) extremely convincingly; both contrasting characters had their own appeal. The idea with the spiders is quite unconventional, and at times I questioned whether it was meant to be a dream or something else. Denis Villeneuve surprised with an interesting, unorthodox theme, from which he probably squeezed the maximum. It’s unlikely to become a hit, especially with the transformation of a woman into a monstrous spider at the end (where everyone might realize that they didn’t quite understand the film). I give it 74%. (2018-05-27)