i'm thinking of going tonight-
Gemini
Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
Reviewed by Diane Carson
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For the next six weeks on Tuesday evenings, Fontbonne University sponsors a contemporary Asian horror film series. It begins this week with Japanese director Shinya Tsukamotos Gemini. Based on a short story by Edogawa Ranpo (the pen name for an Edgar Allan Poe admirer), this physical and psychological nightmare intertwines lives of an ex-army doctor, his disapproving mother with a weak heart, his adoptive but detached father, and his amnesiac wife whose entire family perished in a fire. The tale unreels with brief flashbacks gradually illuminating quite perplexing behavior. Set in the early 20th century, Japans late Meiji Period, Gemini uses ideologically and tragically different twins to critique class and the literal life and death benefits status confers in a hierarchical society afflicted with disease and crime-ridden slums. Dr. Daltokuji has, perhaps unwisely, married Rin who is a cipher because of her lack of memory. All the family members agree, however, that their home has become strange with her arrival.
The camera translates jangled nerves and unstable individuals to jittery movement or, conversely, complements calm conviction with unyielding stillness. Strong art direction (scenes suffused with orange or blue light), unnerving and unearthly music, and fine, stylized acting gives this challenging film uniquely haunting qualities and philosophical import. Rin is played by a Japanese model named Ryo who has become a charismatic actress. As the doctor, Masahiro Motoki shows remarkable range, as does director Tsukamoto who is better known for his Tetsuo the Iron Man. Japanese horror films involve more suggestion than their American equivalent, which adds to mood and flights of fancy. So while a willing suspension of disbelief is required, it is also more than amply rewarded in Gemini, sufficiently complex that it invites reconsideration for some time after its conclusion. In Japanese with English subtitles. Gemini will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 27 [2004], in the Lewis Room, Fontbonne University Library, 6800 Wydown. Call 314-719-8061 for more information.
Gemini
Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
Reviewed by Diane Carson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the next six weeks on Tuesday evenings, Fontbonne University sponsors a contemporary Asian horror film series. It begins this week with Japanese director Shinya Tsukamotos Gemini. Based on a short story by Edogawa Ranpo (the pen name for an Edgar Allan Poe admirer), this physical and psychological nightmare intertwines lives of an ex-army doctor, his disapproving mother with a weak heart, his adoptive but detached father, and his amnesiac wife whose entire family perished in a fire. The tale unreels with brief flashbacks gradually illuminating quite perplexing behavior. Set in the early 20th century, Japans late Meiji Period, Gemini uses ideologically and tragically different twins to critique class and the literal life and death benefits status confers in a hierarchical society afflicted with disease and crime-ridden slums. Dr. Daltokuji has, perhaps unwisely, married Rin who is a cipher because of her lack of memory. All the family members agree, however, that their home has become strange with her arrival.
The camera translates jangled nerves and unstable individuals to jittery movement or, conversely, complements calm conviction with unyielding stillness. Strong art direction (scenes suffused with orange or blue light), unnerving and unearthly music, and fine, stylized acting gives this challenging film uniquely haunting qualities and philosophical import. Rin is played by a Japanese model named Ryo who has become a charismatic actress. As the doctor, Masahiro Motoki shows remarkable range, as does director Tsukamoto who is better known for his Tetsuo the Iron Man. Japanese horror films involve more suggestion than their American equivalent, which adds to mood and flights of fancy. So while a willing suspension of disbelief is required, it is also more than amply rewarded in Gemini, sufficiently complex that it invites reconsideration for some time after its conclusion. In Japanese with English subtitles. Gemini will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 27 [2004], in the Lewis Room, Fontbonne University Library, 6800 Wydown. Call 314-719-8061 for more information.
