Gemini (1999) Sôseiji

Movie Rating NR Contains: Strong Language Gore Sex

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto Movie Genre: Horror, Surrealism Country: Japan Gemini Score Card The following scores are based on a 0.0 to 10.0 rating scale Hover your mouse pointer over the name of each scoring category below for a description Direction: 7.0 Writing: 6.8 Acting: 7.4 Cinematography: 8.0 Sound and Score: 9.4 Functionality: 7.3 Presentation: 8.8 Genre Comparison: 8.0 General Comparison: 6.8 Overall: 7.7 Reviewed 2006-05-26 04:59:20

Shinya Tsukamoto's Gemini is a movie about a celebrated doctor named Yukio, who has a successful practice and wonderful relationship with his amnesiac girlfriend, Rin. Yukio's peaceful life is suddenly disrupted when a mysterious stranger with an uncanny resemblance to Yukio suddenly appears. This stranger kills Yukio's parents and throws Yukio in an abandoned well, then assumes his identity. This mysterious stranger soon tells Yukio that he is Sutekichi, Yukio's long-lost twin brother. He has come for Rin, so they can continue the relationship they started in the slums before Rin lost her memory.

Early on, Tsukamoto establishes an eerie and unsettling atmosphere. Tsukamoto had the entire cast shave off their eyebrows before appearing on camera. Also he used minimal lighting and plenty of handheld and tracking shots. These stylistic traits and the early 1900s setting help to establish the kind of nightmare logic that sets this movie apart from most entries into the horror genre.

The music by Chu Ishikawa is nothing short of fantastic. The score is an essential part of the atmospherics of Gemini. During the more intense scenes, the music swells and during the more subtle, creepier moments, the music fades out almost entirely, both instances giving this movie an added level of depth.

On the surface, Gemini may seem like a fairly conventional movie from the same man that made Tetsuo: The Iron Man. In fact, Tsukamoto remains true to his kaiju, monster movie roots with the scenes set in the slums. The costumes of the residents of the slums are very much like the more monstrous characters of Tsukamoto's earlier, cyberpunk works. Japanese cinematic icons Tadanobu Asano and Renji Ishibashi play two of these characters in fairly small roles. Although they may seem jarring, the slum sequences fit surprisingly well within the previously established constructs of the narrative.

Tsukamoto's Gemini is a successful horror movie. There are no jump cuts or other shots designed to startle the audience. Instead this movie sets up an extremely creepy atmosphere and remains faithful to that creepiness for the entire movie. Where many other movies attempt to frighten using matters of the supernatural, in Gemini, Tsukamoto deals with the dark side of the human psyche and how anyone can be made into a monster when pushed far enough.