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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Shinya Tsukamoto (screenplay)
Rampo Edogawa (short story "Sôseiji: Aru shikeishû ga kyôkaishi ni uchiaketa hanashi")
Release Date:
15 September 1999 (Japan) more
Plot:
A successful doctor, Yukio's picture perfect life is gradually wrecked, and taken over by his avenging twin brother, who bumps off his family members one by one and reclaims his lover who is now Yukio's wife. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
3 wins & 3 nominations more
User Comments:
Tsukamoto's best? more (16 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Masahiro Motoki | ... | Yukio Daitokuji / Sutekichi |
| Ryô | ... | Rin |
| Yasutaka Tsutsui | ... | Yukio's Father |
| Masako Motai | ... | Shige |
| Renji Ishibashi | ... | Beggar Monk |
| Akaji Maro | ... | Kakubê |
| Tomorowo Taguchi | ... | Middle-aged Patient |
| Jun Murakami | ... | Young Patient |
| Yukito Mizoguchi | ... | Child |
| Eri Yu | (as Eri Yû) | |
| Hisako Ôkata | ... | Taki'e |
| Yuriko Hiro'oka | ... | Toshiko |
| Yuki Inomata | ... | Suzu |
| Sujin Kim | ... | Detective |
| Hiromi Kuronuma |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Gemini (Japan: English title)
more
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
84 min | Canada:83 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
France:U | Japan:PG-12 | Singapore:R(A) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | South Korea:18
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Everyone who appeared on camera had make-up applied to hide their eyebrows. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Tsukamoto Shin'ya ga Ranpo suru (2000) (V) more
Soundtrack:
Suisiei no kaiken more
FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (16 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Sôseiji (1999)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
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| DVD release? | OneWinged |
| the well | Ziyi |
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Related Links
| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| News articles | IMDb Drama section | IMDb Japan section |
| Add this title to MyMovies |
First things first: somebody needs to officially release this film in the United States. I see three thousand copies of Dude, Where's My Car every time I step outside, but when I want to see a beautiful and interesting film like Gemini, I have to track down a dubious bootleg on eBay. Pitiful.
The plot concerns a rich doctor suddenly thrown into a well by a man who looks exactly like him. The mysterious doppelganger takes over the doctor's identity, his household, and his wife, all the while laughing and taunting down the well at his imprisoned twin. As the mysterious lookalike gradually reveals the truth to the doctor, it becomes less and less certain which of the twins is the "hero" and which is the "villain."
Shinya Tsukamoto isn't a great director yet, but he's getting there. With Gemini he reveals a tremendous versatility, combining moments of sedate drama with hyperkinetic sequences of terror and joy. The actors are all magnificent (especially Masahiro Motoki in a complex double role), the cinematography is stunning, and the story is thoroughly intriguing and well told. It's not the best movie ever made by any means, but here and there Tsukamoto manages a few moments of real greatness, scenes where we genuinely become one with these characters and their needs. Watch the doctor, defeated and filthy at the bottom of his well, beg for a release from his suffering; watch the wife burst into tears as she remembers her past existence.
Tsukamoto knows what he's doing. He hasn't quite achieved true greatness yet, but one day he may just break through.