The cover story of our current issue, Enemy is Denis Villeneuve’s brooding adaptation of José Saramago’s The Double, his second collaboration with Jake Gyllenhaal following last year’s Prisoners. Today, the busy bees over at A24 debuted a trailer in advance of the film’s March 14th release that also showcases an impressive supporting cast in Isabella Rosselini, Melanie Laurent and recent Cronenberg favorite, Sarah Gadon. The film, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, is another entry in cinema’s long-running fascination with doppelgängers, and apparently, a rather successful one at that. Prior to interviewing Villeneuve for the Winter issue, Brandon Harris raved the film in his […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 31, 2014In his newest film Enemy, French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve immediately springs on us an omnipotent sense of dread. The chiaroscuro-tinged opening — a dynamo dream sequence in a film that feels like one long, unending hallucination — takes us inside an invitation-only sex club, populated by hard-looking, well-dressed men, one of whom is Jake Gyllenhaal. What are they watching? Scantily clad women doing seemingly erotic things that involve tarantulas. Bear with me. Soon we meet a pregnant blonde (Sarah Gadon) who’s waiting at home for her husband. Is it Gyllenhaal whom she’s waiting for? The next time he’s glimpsed, he […]
by Brandon Harris on Jan 17, 2014With 288 films unfolding over 11 days, the Toronto International Film Festival offers just about every type of viewing experience imaginable, with every viewer becoming their own curator, cherry-picking from within their favorite sections. Business types congregate around the big acquisition titles. Cineastes check out the greats of world cinema, arriving in Toronto after Cannes. Discoverers peruse the Vanguard section searching for new talent. But what’s less often commented upon are the viewing experiences a large festival like Toronto produces for viewers intending to sample from it all. Entering a theater involves, before the lights dim, a mental recalibration, an […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2013