The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a doppelganger as "a ghostly counterpart of a living person". In the context of this film, the double of a person is exact in appearance but is quite opposite in personality and illustrates the dark side of the character. I found this to be an interesting idea for a film but there are two problems with this movie that had my interest waning by the halfway point. The first is that the idea has been used before in a number of movies and with the technological advances of the last decade or two, we are seeing doubles even more. The idea of one actor playing multiple roles can be intriguing but to be enjoyable, you need to be interested in the character enough or else it is simply overload to have two of them. The other problem is that the idea of a guy having a ghost haunting himself is interesting but in typical J-horror fashion, everything went on a non-sensical path just when the story started to get rolling. I don't mind this type of movie but I can't stand it when by the end nothing makes sense other than the fact that there is no more popcorn and I have a movie to trade in at the used DVD store.

Koji Yakusho (Cure, Babel) stars as Hayasaki, a frustrated scientist who is trying to develop a wheelchair with mechanical limbs that will respond to human thought impulses. While he had successes in the past, he is now stressed out, overworked, and his boss is losing confidence in him. One night after work, Hayasaki discovers his doppelganger hanging around in his apartment and is very frightened because legend has it that when a person sees his doppelganger, it is traditionally regarded as an omen of death. He realizes that this does not seem to be the case in this story as his new sidekick pushes him on a journey into his dark side where he does things that he would never have done before such as destroying his lab and making a pass at his assistant. Things gradually get weirder as the wheelchair becomes an iconic presence in the movie seemingly representing smothered hope for Hayasaki (or something like that). To be completely honest, for the last half an hour of this flick I was totally lost and nothing was resolved for me by the end.

Technically, this was a nicely shot movie and there were some interesting ideas at work. A lot of care was taken in framing and blocking. The editing was also quite impressive with a number of instances where the screen was split into two or three segments showing the different sides of Hayasaki and his ghostly twin. The acting was good from all involved and everyone was trying their best with what they were given. Yakusho in particular seemed to be very dedicated to exploring the dual natures of his character. In fact, the performances were all quite intense and at least the actors appeared to know what was going on. Too bad I didn't. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa previously made a mark with Cure and Kairo but has maybe bitten off a little more than he could chew with this one. It should also be mentioned that the DVD cover says that this is Kurosawa's 'most frightening film'. This is clearly the case as this is not a horror movie but rather a slow-moving psychological thriller with no scares whatsoever.

There have only been a few instances where I have enjoyed the gimmick of one actor playing multiple characters such as in Adaptation, Dead Ringers, and Army of Darkness. Maybe it is just personal taste but to me when I see a plot that involves this device, I am usually expecting the filmmaker to think they have free reign to come up with all kinds of crazy plot twists and throw sense out the window. I have never been a fan of this kind of lazy writing and I felt Doppelganger was a perfect example of it. I would have given it a slightly higher rating had it not completely derailed by the end. (Josh Pasnak, 9/30/07)

Directed By: Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Written By: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takeshi Furusawa.

Starring: Koji Yakusho, Hiromi Nagasaku, Yusuke Santamaria, Masahiro Toda.

Picture Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: I would have thought that a recent movie from an acclaimed Japanese director would have been given a better transfer. The image appeared slightly blurry and fuzzy almost like it was blown up to a larger aspect ratio without much care. It was watchable but could have been better.

Extras: We get a 20-minute featurette on the making of the film as well as a 5-minute interview with Kurosawa. Both are in Japanese with English subtitles and offer a bit of insight into the film if you are a fan but nothing earth-shattering is revealed. We also get a trailer for the film as well as for a couple of other Tartan releases.