''Gemini'' (also known as ''Sōseiji''; , "Twins") is a 1999

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

by Shinya Tsukamoto, loosely based on an Edogawa Ranpo story, which pursues his theme of the brutally physical and animalistic side of human beings rearing its ugly head underneath a civilized veneer, present in previous films like '' Tetsuo: The Iron Man'' (1989) and '' Tokyo Fist'' (1995), in what is a new territory for Tsukamoto—a story set in the late

Meiji era The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...

(1868–1912) with no stop-motion photography and no industrial setting.

Plot

Tokyo. 1910. Dr. Daitokuji Yukio ( Masahiro Motoki), a former military doctor who has taken over a successful practice from his father and treats plague victims, is living a charmed life: he is a respected young doctor with a successful practice and Rin ( Ryo), a beautiful wife. His only problem is that she suffers from amnesia, and her past is unknown. However, things begin to fall apart. Both his parents die suddenly, killed by a mysterious stranger who looks just like him. His relationship with his wife worsens after he chooses to cure the mayor instead of destitute denizens of nearby ghettos. While isolated from his relatives, he one day faces the mysterious stranger who turns out to be his long-lost rejected twin, Sutekichi (again Motoki). Bent on revenge, Sutekichi throws him into the garden's well and takes over his life and his wife. The final conflict between the two brothers is realized when Yukio, forced into an animalistic existence in the well, reemerges, prompting the fratricidal fight for the love of the same woman, since it turns out (while he takes over Yukio's role) that Rin had actually once been Sutekichi's lover.

Cast

* Masahiro Motoki – Yukio Daitokuji / Sutekichi * Ryo – Rin * Yasutaka Tsutsui – Yukio's father *

Shiho Fujimura Shiho Fujimura (藤村志保 ''Fujimura Shiho'', born 3 January 1939 in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese actress. She was given a Special Prize for her career at the 2008 Yokohama Film Festival. Filmography Films *''Shino ...

– Yukio's mother * Akaji Maro – Kakubê *

Masako Motai Masako (written: , , or in hiragana) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * *, (1888–1940), 6th daughter of Emperor Meiji *, Japanese long-distance runner * Masako Ebisu (born 1945), Japanese voice actress * ...

– Shige * Renji Ishibashi – Beggar monk * Tomorowo Taguchi – Middle-aged patient * Tadanobu Asano – Revenger with sword * Naoto Takenaka – Rich man

Documentary

A behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of ''Gemini'' was produced and directed by Takashi Miike. The documentary, titled ''Tsukamoto Shinya ga Ranpo suru'', is 17 minutes long.

Release

''Gemini'' received its official world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 1999. It was released a few days later in Japan on September 15, 1999 where it was distributed by Toho. It was shown in the United States on November 5, 2000 at the

Hawaii Film Festival Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

. It has also received a rerelease by Third Window Films on Blu-ray in 2020.

Reception

'' Variety'' gave the film a generally favourable review, stating that "this strikingly designed thriller is gripping despite a certain heavy-handedness and the director's customarily chaotic narrative approach." ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' referred to ''Gemini'' as the "Pick of the Day" from its presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival, describing the film as "disconcerting, opaque, energetic, tedious, fascinating and flat-out insane in roughly equal measure" A review in the French film magazine '' Positif'' stated that ''Gemini'' had an awkward style that would leave viewers unable to get a real sense of fear and that the film had the complexity of a student film or a z-grade series. Contrarily, the media site Grimoire of Horror praised the frantic narrative for "absolutely breath taking plot twists, scenes of highly choreographed mayhem, beautifully erotic sequences, in-your-face class divide parables".

References

Footnotes

Sources

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External links

* * * {{Shinya Tsukamoto 1999 horror films 1999 films 1990s psychological thriller films Japanese horror films Films directed by Shinya Tsukamoto Films based on works by Edogawa Ranpo Films scored by Chu Ishikawa Films about twin brothers Films set in 1910 Toho films Films set in Tokyo Japanese psychological horror films 1990s Japanese films