Doppelgänger
2003
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Starring: Kôji Yakusho, Hiromi Nagasaku

Wow. This movie sucked pretty bad. The film's first hour is so well directed and so well acted that I don't know what happened the final 45 minutes. The film takes a huge plot shift that it turns from an intriguing look of duality to a black comedy. The ending left such a horrible taste in my mouth I wanted to smash my laptop. I loved Kurosawa's previous film, "Cure," as that was an interesting and intriguing film through and through. But here, it's like he asked a 4 year old to write the final 45 minutes of the film because he didn't know what to do with it.

The main character,Hayasaki (Kôji Yakusho), is played well by Yakusho but his acting failed to leave an impression during the final 45 minutes. The incredibly cute Hiromi Nagasaku plays one of his assistants and I felt that her character would be more developed as the film winded down but it didn't.

"The most terrifying film yet from Kiyoshi Kurosawa!" That's what it says on the DVD case. Terrifying, my ass. It stunk like a dead squirrel on the road. Stay away from this film. It misleads you to think that it will become a great film but then it gives a shit pie in the face.

Grade: D-
(not a F because of the great first hour, it's still better than Alexander)