Original title: Soseiji
Produced by Sedic/Distributed by Toho.
While generally billed as a horror film, this is more of a warped family drama with a few disconcerting elements. Masahiro Motoki plays Yukio, a doctor in Japan circa 1910 who had served during the Russo-Japanese War and now has a promising career before him. He has recently wed Rin (Ryo), a noblewoman who has suffered from amnesia since her home burned down. His world is turned upside down after his parents die under mysterious circumstances. One day, he is assaulted from behind by an unknown assailant and thrown down a well. The assailant reveals himself to be...HIM. What's going on?
Obviously, lots of people in the family household have been keeping secrets, right down to Rin herself. And sometimes keeping secrets of certain magnitudes comes back to haunt you. There is a lot to chew on here. I might venture to say that Gemini is mainly about class warfare. Yukio is something of a eugenics type: he's a doctor, but ascribes to the Scrooge "surplus population" theory of "why fight to keep people alive when you know they're going to die anyway?". Also, "if plagues are born in the slums, won't razing the slums solve the problem at its root?" He's a jerk: an educated and polite jerk, but a jerk nonetheless. Nonetheless, the squalor he endures at the bottom of the well does give him a taste of his own medicine. There is also talk about how savage man is beneath the thin layer of civilization, which comes to the fore at the climax.
The film is hardly violent, nor is it ever scary. It has been called "erotic" by critics, but the multiple sex scenes never show more than bare back. There is a feeling of strangeness hanging over the entire film, though. The scenes in Yukio's household are shot in color, but might as well have been in black and white. Very muted tones, blacks, whites, greys, and dark blues are the order of the day. In contrast, the scenes in the ghetto are shot with vibrant reds and loud opera-esque music that borders on outright camp. I'm sure that those differences may cause some viewers to feel unsettled.
