Existential dread is a powerful thing. The fear of being forgotten or simply dying is a human condition that plagues most of us, especially when reaching a certain age where we all start tumbling downhill in health. The insecurities of being seen, desired or desiring relevance compound for some at a certain age. WithDual, director Riley Stearns (The Art of Self Defense) has channeled these daunting insecurities in a dark comedy that confronts these issues.
Dualshares commonalities with films likePixar’sSoulin that it holds a mirror to our own mortality, no matter how uncomfortable the reflection. Only here Stearns has added an extra flavor of anxiety to this issue, And that ingredient is the fear of being replaced after our departure. The themes might be serious and grim but they are handled in a surprisingly comedic way. Although, not everyone will be laughing at the joke.
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The film stars Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy)as Sarah, a lonely woman living a very complicated existence. Sarah spends her days eating horribly on a diet of fast food and alcohol. She longs for the attention of her boyfriend Peter (Beulah Koale) who communicates with her through video calls and seems to be avoiding returning home purposely. Sarah comes across as lonely but also completely void of any emotion. But her feelings are conveyed through the life choices she makes in drinking and diet. Whether she is purposely numb or numb by nature is not exactly clear at first.
After a lonely night of drinking, Sarah wakes up to a concerning amount of blood on her pillow, seemingly from vomiting while she was asleep. This event takes her to the emergency room to be seen for the issue. But the results of seeking treatment prove more harrowing as test results indicate she has a terminal and rare illness that has no curable treatment and has a 98% chance of death. This leads to a rather humorous exchange as the doctor insists on giving her no hope despite a 2% margin of error.
This is whereDualbecomes interesting in that adarker sci-fi elementis thrown into the dark comedic foreground. Upon getting the bad news, Sarah’s doctor tells her about a medical procedure called “Replacement.” This is a cloning process that allows loved ones to keep a new version of themselves that will live on after their death.
Sarah takes on the procedure but has mixed feelings about the decision as her boyfriend and mother take warmth to the new Sarah, more than the dying one. And this is compounded by the fact that she gets updated news that she is in fact in remission. Faced with a choice, Sarah is offered the decision to terminate her clone but Sarah number two invokes a 28th amendment which states she can challenge herself to a duel. And whoever survives will be the permanent living identity of Sarah.
Dual isundeniably a comedy but it plays with these cloning concepts in such a manner that it invokes nervous laughter. Death is already an awkward subject to joke about generally. And most of the humor is delivered stoically deadpan, almost to a fault. Karen Gillan is quite impactful with this type of comedy, showing off the same talents as she didinGunpowder Milkshake.Her emotionless demeanor throughout the film has the potential to leave some cold but those who are in on the joke will find a chuckle as she watches a gory film with a dead expression.
There is an added layer of complexity in her performance as Gillan has to play two versions of the same character, and somehow bring small subtle nuances to the clone. The execution is enough to differentiate the personas and the scenes where Gillan talks to herself are incredibly effective. Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) is wonderful here as well, acting as Sarah’s combat trainer for the impending duel and the scenes they share in the film are going to be the highlights for many.
The refreshing part aboutDualis its approach to world-building. Most films in the genre get heavy on making everything feel futuristic but Stearns keeps his universe grounded in realism. It makes the subject matter feel like this can exist within the next decade, in comparison tofilms likeBlade Runner 2049,where the film is excellent but the universe feels extremely out of reach. The only aspect that feels silly is the idea that the government would force an individual to kill their double and not just treat the situation like identical twins. But the suspension of disbelief meter never exceeds itself.
Dualalso possesses an ending that might cause some mixed reactions. Specifically, one of the leads in the film makes a choice in the finale that feels out of character given everything that led up to the moment. It does not hinder the experience as a whole but it pulls the viewer out of the film, albeit briefly.
Believability aside, for a dark comedy, the concept of substituting a loved one as they are dying is haunting. Being replaced in a marriage or family, like bringing home a new dog after the old one passed away, is an idea that while fascinating on paper, is also rather terrifying. And given the past few years with the world events feeling like a simulationcollapsing likeThe Matrix,the possibility of human beings partaking in replacement cloning seems less absurd than before.
Dualis an inventive dark comedy that might surprise some viewers in the sci-fi genre. It’s also one of the first films in a long time that utilizes cloning as a plot device in unsettling ways. The humor will be an acquired taste but if viewers can get past the challenging finale, there is a lot to love about Riley Stearns’s latest film.
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Dual
Upon receiving a terminal diagnosis, Sarah opts for a cloning procedure to ease her loss on her friends and family. When she makes a sudden and miraculous recovery, her attempts to have her clone decommissioned fail and lead to a court-mandated duel to the death. Now she has one year to train her body and mind for the fight of her life.
