Review of Double Exposure

A film that mistakes confusion for depth

Double Exposure revolves around three central figures—Peter, Sara, and Lora—yet the film never develops any of them with enough clarity to anchor the story. Their relationships are sketched rather than built, and the movie relies on implication instead of depth. Instead of exploring the emotional fallout between these three people, the film leans on repetition and fractured imagery to suggest a complexity it never actually provides.

The only reason viewers remain engaged is the persistent illusion that something meaningful is taking shape beneath the surface. The film uses the familiar language of a mystery—multiple versions of an event, symbolic returns of the past, sudden tonal shifts—to imply that a coherent explanation is coming. Each crash sequence feels positioned as a clue. Every appearance of Sara suggests an untold truth. Lora’s quiet struggle hints at emotional stakes the script never articulates. The structure tricks the audience into thinking that the next scene will reveal the connective tissue the film has so far withheld.

What viewers hope for is straightforward: they expect the film to finally explain itself. They wait for the relationships among Peter, Sara, and Lora to be clarified, for the symbolism of the repeated crashes to resolve into understanding, for the emotional weight of the past to be acknowledged rather than implied. The movie sets up these expectations so deliberately that abandoning the viewing feels premature; surely, one assumes, the final act will tie the threads together.

Yet Double Exposure never delivers on this promise. The recurring crash sequences do not build a mystery—they simply delay the inevitable. The emotional arcs are thin, leaving Sara’s memory underexplored and Peter’s trauma unexamined. Lora, caught between both, becomes a symbol rather than a character. When the film finally reaches the only version of the accident that reflects reality, the result is abrupt rather than revelatory. Peter dies in that final crash, zipped into a body bag while the film offers no meaningful insight into the journey that brought him there.

Ultimately, the movie confuses ambiguity with depth. It withholds information not to challenge the viewer, but because it has little to offer. Double Exposure keeps its audience watching only because it continually suggests that clarity is coming. It never arrives.

Director: Howard Goldberg

Cast:

Alexander Calvert( Peter)

Caylee Cowan( Sara)

Kahyun Kim( Lora)