The Double

Director: Richard Ayoade

2013 / 93min / DCP

Inspired by the Dostoyevsky novella of the same title, Ayoade’s noir-inflected sophomore feature gives a dead game Jesse Eisenberg not one but two juicy parts as both a mousy, long-overlooked office drone, Simon James, and his new colleague, the cocksure and charismatic James Simon, who no one other than Simon seems to notice is in fact Simon’s doppelgänger, and who briskly sets about invading every aspect of Simon’s life. The bleakly comic story of a man struggling to get the upper hand over himself, with Eisenberg, in his virtuoso double role, getting more than capable backup from a supporting cast that includes Mia Wasikowska, Wallace Shawn, and Cathy Moriarty.

Distributor: Magnolia Pictures