"Chaos is order yet undeciphered."
After hearing about Ridley Scott's fantastic Blade Runner getting a sequel not directed by him, of course my first reaction was to find out who this new director was and if he was worthy to carry on the legacy. I learned it was a man named Denis Villeneuve, a director I'm not familiar with from Canada. While searching, I found a movie that many people were ranting and raving about directed by him called Enemy. I decided to give it a try, and I was NOT dissapointed. Quite the opposite actually. It also has a lot of design elements that relate to my masterpiece, so I thought I'd give a short review of it.
Enemy came out in 2013. I have never heard of it until now. But after watching it, I was blown away by all of the subtle themes it used both in it's writing and design that tell the story of inner turmoil between a man. (Also warning, there may be a few spoilers in here. Watch the movie first!) The basic plot of the film revolves around a history professer who finds out he had a doppelganger, and he sets out to meet this man. One major thing I noticed that flowed through the entire film was one thing.
Yellow.
In history teacher Jake's apartment, it's dark yellow and black. Outdoors and in actor Jake's apartment, it's light yellow. The lighter feels more safe, and healthy, while the dark feels dingy, and bad. The color and design used throughout the entire film helped bring the story to the forefront. This is something I am interested in working with for my masterpiece, and while it may not be film, telling stories through indirect design is a really interesting concept to me. There are many other things that help indirectly tell the story as well. History teacher Jake's hair is constantly a mess, his clothes are ill-fitting and mismatched, and look cheap. Actor Jake's clothes look expensive, he wears a watch, and his hair is always combed and styled. It's these small details that really drive this film. One other main point that really gives the film the psychological edge is spiders. (see pictures 3 and 4.) I don't want to spoil anything if you watch it and figure it out for yourself, but these spiders seen throughout the film are the main plot to the protagonist's battle with himself. He is his own enemy. The themes of lust, commitment, and mind battles are made into a fantastic thinking game with the design and symbolism in this film, and after watching it, I still wasn't totally sure if I had it all right. It really is a film that you need to pay close attention to every detail to really understand, which is something you don't get a lot in today's film industry. I highly recommend if you like a puzzling, intricate, well-made story you should watch this movie. At the end, if you still don't fully understand the bits and pieces placed in it (and that terrifying ending) to get the message across, watch this video. It helped me realize a lot of things I missed about it. Needless to say, I think the Blade Runner sequel is in good hands.
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