'Gemini' A Review

Gemini is a contemplative neo-noir about starlet Heather(Zoë Kravitz), her assistant Jill(Lola Kirke) and a mystery they get involved in. The film opens on Jill waiting for Heather to get done with a meeting. She get's a call from Heather's ex who casually threatens to kill her, Heather then returns and sends Jill into her meeting for her, reluctant to back out of a movie she already committed to but desperately wanting some time off. After Jill blows off director Greg(Nelson Franklin), who is furious and threatens to kill her, Heather takes a call from her agent Jamie(Michelle Forbes) who threatens to kill her, after the call Heather and Jill are accosted by a manic look-a-like super fan. Heather asks to borrow Jill's gun and she consents. A decision she comes to regret.

Kirke is a compelling lead, driven and competent in her job and her pursuit of the mystery but also vulnerable with an element of meditative reserve that she kind of glides through the film with interrupted by higher stakes scenes that almost but never really culminate in action. Kravitz is nice as the magnetic but somewhat out-of-touch movie star, the chemistry between the two is familiar and intimate the friendship/work dynamic they create is complex, intriguing, with an impenetrable vague mystique. Above and beyond the central puzzle this relationship is what the story is really about and it doesn't disappoint. The supporting cast are all surprisingly layered. Franklin as the truculent nerdy director is funny and engaging. Frobes as the high powered icey but concerned agent gets a pop out of her one brief scene. James Ransone, always wonderful, as paparazzi Stan fills out the world. John Cho as the unexpectedly compassionate and communicative detective provides dimension. All in all an exceptional cast.

Shadow and saturated neon pair well with the deliberate camera to create a modern, nocturnal LA that doesn't seem to throwback or reference but is of the now. The techno jazz score also serves to heighten the sleepy danger of the story but also it's contemporary feel. The film gets some interesting ideas of celebrity, fame, social media, friendship, position and perception but all obliquely. There's a lot inferred, a lot implied, but as the story raps up there isn't a ton of clarity.

Writer/Director Aaron Katz puts forth the first really captivating noir by and for Generation Y but doesn't quite stick the landing.

See It.