What a waste of my time!!!

Too much of everything

To me, this movie is perfection.

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Wimpy, weary, stressed-out workaholic research scientist Michio Hayasaki (superbly played by Koji Yakusho) ain't having a good time of it: he's totally fried and exhausted by his job because he can't make that necessary breakthrough to perfect a spiffy new automated wheelchair he's designing for some big company. Worse yet, if Michio doesn't produce some solid results pronto his overbearing greedy jerk of a boss is going to cut his funds. Things get even more complicated when Michio's exact double suddenly materializes in the flesh. Whereas Michio is seriously meek, responsible and unassertive, his doppelganger is pure bad news: brash, crude, aggressive and blithely irresponsible, a toxic product of Michio's repressed id who cheerfully proceeds to further mess up Michio's already wildly unstable life.Director/co-screenwriter Kiyoshi Kurosawa offers up a deliciously clever and incisive seriocomic thriller which works beautifully as a marvelously off-beat and original meditation on the duality of human nature, keenly exploring how all of us have both positive and negative traits existent in our personalities which we must come to terms with or otherwise denial can (and, most frightfully, inevitably will) get the best of us. The film starts out on a deceptively dark and disturbing note, eventually giving way to a more playful and farcical sensibility that's always entertaining and often wickedly funny. Better yet, Michio's journey of self-discovery ultimately proves to be quite helpful and uplifting, concluding things with a very touching and heartening finale that's a joy to behold. Koji Yashuko delivers an outstanding performance in a most difficult and demanding role, endowing Michio with a certain hangdog appeal and even investing his ne'er-do-well double with an irresistibly rascally charm. The supporting cast likewise makes the grade, while the state-of-the-art digital effects which allow Michio and his double to interact on screen together are both splendid and seamless. A fiendishly sharp and smart delight that's well worth checking out.

One of these days, I'll see one of these so-called "horror" films that Kiyoshi Kurosawa directs. This and "Bright Future" are the only two I've seen thus far and both were completely unexpected. Don't let the American box art deceive you: it's not a "frightening" film. However, it's fantastic. And truly bizarre. Assigning this film a genre is a ridiculous exercise. It shifts seamlessly between moments of high emotional drama, absurdist comedy, and violence. And underneath it all is an interesting exploration of the concept of self: The reconciliation of who one wants to be, who one is trying to avoid becoming, and who one is. As the credits rolled, I laughed, impressed. Don't go into the film with expectations. Just try it.

I've had never been disappointed by a Kurosawa film, but this is probably the first. "Doppelganger" is the worst I've seen from this director.Tartan Films is advertising this as "The most frightening film yet from Kiyoshi Kurosawa". What? The most frightening film from Kurosawa is definitely "Kairo". And if you think this is horror, your in for a surprise. This can't be classified as horror, or thriller. This is a drama, and a pretty bad one at that. A lot of scenes that were meant to be shocking have turned out being funny, and a lot of the plot is really confusing. And since it's Kurosawa, the pacing is slow. But it's so slow that you'll lose interest forty minutes in, and feel like doing something else. The thing that annoyed me the most was the use of CGI. Now CGI, if used well, can be really cool. But if executed with little care... It can be a disaster. I think that describes one scene here that has a very minimal use of CGI.The only positive thing I can give "Dopppelganger" is that it has really good acting. Koji Yakusho gives a great performance, along with the rest of the cast. But that's pretty much it...Please, do yourself a favor, and go watch "Kairo" or "Ko-Rei" if you want to be scared. This is a bad, bad attempt at a smart drama. Which it is intelligent, but... Well, there's a lot missing.3/10 for the good acting.

i probably shouldn't comment on this, as i turned it off an hour into it. absolutely unwatchable. i loved "cure", kurosawa's previous outing with the great koji yakusho, but this one was a mess through and through. it's like they didn't know what to do with it. the premise, about a man who meets his exact double, is nearly foolproof. there're so many ways to approach it, i really can't believe they couldn't make at least a decent movie out of this. but right from the beginning, the tone is all over the place and the plot just completely meanders. even yakusho's acting is weak (never thought i'd have to write that). not good.