The term “doppelgänger” comes from the German (literally “double walker”), and it refers to a ghostly apparition that manifests as an exact copy of a living person. The basic concept of the double has been around forever, across world literature and folklore. But in contemporary speculative fiction, the trope has taken a technological turn: clones, time travel, multiverse weirdness.
The new sci-fi comedy Mickey 17, opening this week, provides a new riff on the doppelgänger trope with the story of poor Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), circa 2054. It seems that Mickey is an “expendable,” a human clone designed for dangerous space exploration work. Death is an occupational hazard without actually being a problem: Mickey just gets printed out again.
The film comes from the great South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho (Parasite), which means we can safely anticipate layer upon layer of social commentary and grim allegory. Judging from the clips in circulation online, Mickey 17 has a lot on its mind: class conflict, corporate cruelty, hallucinatory politics, and some dark existential speculation.
Thinky sci-fi films like this, with ambitious filmmakers like Bong Joon-Ho, are a good place to go for a fun-house-mirror perspective on our current circumstances. Science fiction stories are never about the future, not really. They’re all about the here and now. It should be especially interesting to get a non-American POV on this wavelength of bleak, black comedy.
On a similar frequency band, keep an eye out this month for the satirical thriller Opus, which stars Ayo Edebiri as a rookie journalist invited to the exclusive listening party of an aging pop superstar (John Malkovich). The posh gathering of devoted apostles and weirdo sycophants soon turns bloody.
Writer-director Mark Anthony Green, a former magazine writer himself, is clearly taking aim at the cult of celebrity that surrounds the self-proclaimed geniuses of pop music. Let’s not name names. Word is that Malkovich’s performance is off the rails, as usual, and he provides the actual vocals to new tracks from veteran hitmakers Nile Rodgers and The-Dream.
More incoming! movies
If you’re looking for something a little calmer, wait around until the end of the month for The Friend, an intriguing indie with some old-school star power. Naomi Watts stars as a New York City writer who inherits a 150-pound Great Dane after the death of her beloved friend and mentor, played by Bill Murray.
Big dog, small apartment. It sounds like the setup for a comedy, but that’s what’s fascinating about The Friend. It’s a drama all the way. Based on the novel by Sigrid Nunez, this is a story about grief, memory, art, and friendship—the book won the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction. And the filmmakers behind this adaptation, co-directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel, have a way with unsentimental melancholy. (Track down the excellent Montana Story sometime.)
Quick Picks
The weeks after the Oscars are a good time to find international films that otherwise rarely get theatrical bookings. Several official submissions to the International Feature Film category are still playing locally: Emilia Pérez (France); Vermiglio (Italy); I’m Still Here (Brazil); Dahomey (Senegal); The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany); Flow (Latvia); and Universal Language (Canada). Check online listings for theaters.
Director Steven Soderbergh is back yet again with Black Bag, a looks-like-fun spy thriller with Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Naomie Harris, and Pierce Brosnan. Harris and Brosnan are 007 series vets, and you know that casting is on purpose.
If you can stomach another postapocalypse vision, In the Lost Lands stars Milla Jovovich and the improbably awesome movie star Dave Bautista, based on a short story by nerd-culture godfather George R. R. Martin.
Speaking of doubles, the 1950s crime drama The Alto Knights features Robert De Niro in a dual role as real-life gangsters Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. Legend holds that iterations of this script by Nicholas Pileggi (Goodfellas) have been around since the 1970s.
Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd headline the horror-comedy Death of a Unicorn, concerning an unfortunate roadkill incident.
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