movie review: geminis (2005, Argentina)
It's been awhile since I last did something like this here. But it's probably because I very rarely find movies that I'm really into these days. It could also be that it's because I refrain from frequenting the local cinemas. Since two years ago, I've been refraining from spending money on overpriced cinema tickets to movies I know would end up disappointing me. I'm one of the few who would rather sit out a mainstream Hollywood or local mainstream film if I know it's not worth spending for in the cinemas and wait for it to show up on HBO, Cinemax or some other cable channel. I've had enough of being duped to over-hyped, crappy films and such.
A Quick Rant on Films in General
I have a ton of issues with mainstream films and this is why I am avoiding most of them. Aside from the fact that they are over-hyped, I actually tend to look into the background of mainstream films first before I deem them to be films that are worth my money. I've had issues with Mortal Instruments, the Twilight saga and even Hunger Games for questionable originality. I mean, sure they're original but, as in Twilight, it's just too fantastical to believe it occurs in the real world. Vegan, sparkling-in-the-sun vampires?! Uhmn. Yeah. I'll pass, thanks. Most vampires I know from my brush with Buffy the Vampire Slayer among others were soulless bloodsuckers. Blood+ portrayed them as monsters and a select few were painted as normal people. Mortal Instruments' writer actually bullied her peers, including Joss Whedon (this is when I scream: DIE, YOU!). And Hunger Games was too close to Koushun Takami's Battle Royale in premise for me to appreciate even after I'd just watched the first movie in the series a few days ago. I've been wary of the movies I watch from then on. I believe my last high-quality mainstream movie was either the third The Dark Knight installment or Rurouni Kenshin 1. I only got to watch the second Hunger Games movie thanks to free movie tickets from our cable subscriber so that one doesn't count.
My personal issues with mainstream films aside---just don't bring up local mainstream films because I don't really care about all the "kilig feels" that these offer the general audience, I find them highly cliched so I stick to Cinemalaya and ancient socially relevant local films instead (see Oro, Plata, Mata)---I find that avoiding these over-hyped, crappy films helpful because it gave me free time to explore the state of the film industry of other countries. I've recently grown a fondness for Latin American films but I suspect that had been simmering since my brush with a few from my Latin American Literature class in graduate school. They're actually really good. Case in point: Geminis, this film I'll be reviewing here which is from Argentina. I've always had a fondness for the good Japanese film makers and I've even grown a liking to some Korean film makers that are bold enough to produce films with high social value/relevance. I have yet to look into French films and I'm not yet sure what to think about some German films since a lot of my brush with them ended up with me being horrified by how bizarre they could be. I've probably now amassed a collection of films on my hard drive that many of my friends will find strange but I don't care either way because most of my interest in them stemmed from the social relevance they actually offer as opposed to hollow, extremely superficial, overrated mainstream films with highly flawed---or it's not flawed but unnatural-looking in most films because they're so obvious it hurts my eyes...and my head (and heart as a film enthusiast among others)---CG effects shown on cinemas today.
Bottom line of all this three to four-paragraph rant: I think a lot of the films shown globally today are actually crap. I probably will never understand the fuss majority of the world gives to them. I couldn't care more or less either way. Just keep my mainstream 90s films out of this discussion because a lot of them, though cheesy-ish and a bit devoid of effective and feasible plot (?), are actually better than the stuff on cinemas today. There's no way of growing out of the 90s once you've gone through it as it is in my case.
For the record, I'm no hipster as I do watch a variety of films from mainstream to indie. I have equal love for both. I also find both sides a hit or miss most of the time so it's all in the personal preference. I just really tend to pick the films that I think are good no matter how subjective that can get.
Geminis
Also known as Gemini (possibly the American English title?), Geminis by Albertina Carri, a 2005 release is an Argentinian film I came across one online message thread/forum whilst looking for those that contained the controversial theme of consensual incest. I've been interested about the theme for some time now because it's one extremely rare phenomenon I'd like to study or at least gain a bit of insight or understanding on. I won't participate in it nor do I see myself getting into it because I'm 11 years older than my little brother and we're not really that close so...there's that out in the open. I'm not denying nor am I not keeping a blind eye to this because apparently, it does happen although very rarely. I find it an interesting thing to study nevertheless.
I won't go too deep into the plot of Geminis. I'll keep this one short.
Plot: Carri's Geminis tells of the life of what seems to be a normal middle class Argentinian family in modern day Buenos Aires consisting of a middle-aged mother (Lucia) and father (Daniel), an older brother (Ezequiel) and a pair of brother (Jeremias) and sister (Magdalena) twins who are most likely in their early 20s (and I"m only going by estimates here). The siblings, all three of them, are an attractive bunch and the family, as a whole, does seem well-adjusted to society on the outside. What sets them apart from other normal Argentinian families is that the twins have an ongoing physical and likely emotional intimate relationship they keep from the family, including their elder brother. The story begins when Ezequiel brings home to his family his new wife, Montserrat, so they could hold a wedding ceremony in Buenos Aires. The newly wedded couple lives in Spain. From this point towards the near end of the film is the family's preparation for the wedding ceremony so you see a ton of family interactions like regular family functions or family gatherings in their city home and later their home in the province. The twins' relationship isn't revealed until the sex scene in the rave club the siblings and Montse go to but you do get hints on how they seem to act like boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife early on. To the one watching the film, you'll likely find a lot of foreshadowing leading to this event like the twins' discussion on a documentary about pandas on TV and a bit later, their bickering at the grocery store. Their relationship with their mother is also trivial and can be seen as a clue to the nature of their relationship with one another. They team up when they do not like doing something their mother orders them to. The things they fight about between them also aren't the usual things that normal brothers and sisters do. So, long story short, the elder brother later discovers the twins' highly intimate relationship when they were in the countryside. This, of course, breaks him emotionally since he's been in the dark about this like the rest of the family is. Then the mother later finds out and goes in a shock when she comes back from a client's/friend's house to get something she left at home for work. The film ends on an open note and one can only conclude this succession of events didn't really stop the twins from participating in consensual incest.
It would be good to note that there are a lot of hints of the controversial subject the film dissects within it. There's the part where the mother discusses problems of consensual incest within the families of those in the lower class like that of their maid. There's also the discussion the mother has with her sister about what they fought about when they were younger. You can compare that one to the fights Meme and Jere have which you'd likely find to be unusual for most siblings. Then you have Meme (Magdalena) catching their maid, Olguita watching a soap opera from Caracas about a brother revealed by another to be having relations with his own blood-related sister. All these comes in handy when you get to dissect the film into pieces to get to its core message. These are also a great help to those who would like to unravel the film's relevance to today's society.
Social Relevance/Theme Discussion: There is still social stigma around consensual incest. Like other forms of incest, particularly the non-consensual kind, it's one of many social taboos we have today. Carri's Geminis might not remove that stigma and taboo around consensual incest, which I think is the better one between consensual and non-consensual, but it gives us, the critical thinking audience (assuming we are critically thinking while watching the film...yeah), an idea of how it's like for those who are in this kind of relationship. I, for one, would actually like to see the stigma and taboo removed on consensual incest, just the brother-sister and cousin-cousin ones, in the near future. This is because I think some cases of consensual incest has brothers and sisters or cousins and cousins who are actually genuinely in love with one another. I'd like them to be free to decide as to who they'd love rather than have society restrict them that freedom. This is part of the reason why I think that films like Geminis need to be recognized by the general public.
Geminis highlights society's reaction to consensual incest between siblings. The reactions of the eldest brother, Ezekiel and the mother, Lucia are likely exactly those that others would exhibit when they find out about their own family members engaging in incest consensually. There are numerous repercussions to consensual incest or just incest in general and this is something the film executed well. You can tell that it's socially relevant because of this. In the collective minds of today's society, incest, consensual or not, is wrong after all. The film is highly effective in educating the public about how consensual incest poses a problem to society.
While I don't have an issue with that, with how society views consensual incest wrong (there's no way to go around it in the first place because it's society you're dealing with), I'd really rather think that the film evokes one to question whether or not consensual incest is really wrong or not. This is because I ended up associating human nature and our ability to fall in love with others with the unique phenomena like that which Geminis presented and I decided there's nothing wrong with it. What i actually see in the film are two consenting adults in a loving---though there's nothing conclusive about that but just tasteful hints all throughout the film---relationship. I don't mean to romanticize consensual incest but there are cases where you just can't help who you fall in love with even if that one is your sibling or cousin. .
There are other media that do discuss consensual incest between siblings. I've browsed through Tabitha Suzuma's Forbidden and have gone through VC Andrews' Dollanganger series. I ended up having issues with them because I find that they paint consensual incest in a bad light. For both book series, the consensual incest was a result of two siblings being exposed to broken homes and both aren't exactly of the sound mind. Broken homes do affect many individuals psychologically and emotionally and there are numerous studies on that. In the case of Geminis, we have adult twins who grew up in a good, upper middle class household and as far as the film's audience could tell, they're well-adjusted individuals. This is why I actually like Geminis over others that try to explore brother-sister romantic love/consensual sibling incest. This is also why I think Forbidden and the Dollanganger series aren't at all realistic portrayals of some of the happier cases of consensual incest that we know today.
The consensual incest cases I write about here aren't the GSA (Genetic Sexual Attraction) kind. You may have heard of it already as it's been sensationalized by some news networks recently. It's the kind that happens between siblings or cousins who grew up together in the same household. I've read cases of it on some sites where the brother-sister couple are actually legitimately or genuinely in love with one another and yep, like I mentioned earlier, I don't see anything wrong with it. Now, with Geminis, I'd actually like to invite those who are interested in consensual incest as a social/socio-anthropological study to examine this rare phenomena with the way I tried to see and understand it. It would be good to look into cases of siblings or cousins who fall in love with one another too because I think this would at least lighten the social stigma around certain kinds of incest.
To those who would ask whether this film has great or quality entertainment value, I'd say it does if that's how shallow you'd like to look into Carri's Geminis. It works as an effective tragic, love-gone-wrong kind of film. It's also effective as a family-related film but not appropriate for the very young audience. It's also a good film if non-Argentinians would like a peek into how Argentian families work.
I enjoyed the film, thank you very much. I like the theme and its social implications. I think this is one of the better films on consensual incest that hits close to home when it comes to that subject. It's not overly produced and I think it's a solid film with a solid storyline or plot.
kg*
A Quick Rant on Films in General
I have a ton of issues with mainstream films and this is why I am avoiding most of them. Aside from the fact that they are over-hyped, I actually tend to look into the background of mainstream films first before I deem them to be films that are worth my money. I've had issues with Mortal Instruments, the Twilight saga and even Hunger Games for questionable originality. I mean, sure they're original but, as in Twilight, it's just too fantastical to believe it occurs in the real world. Vegan, sparkling-in-the-sun vampires?! Uhmn. Yeah. I'll pass, thanks. Most vampires I know from my brush with Buffy the Vampire Slayer among others were soulless bloodsuckers. Blood+ portrayed them as monsters and a select few were painted as normal people. Mortal Instruments' writer actually bullied her peers, including Joss Whedon (this is when I scream: DIE, YOU!). And Hunger Games was too close to Koushun Takami's Battle Royale in premise for me to appreciate even after I'd just watched the first movie in the series a few days ago. I've been wary of the movies I watch from then on. I believe my last high-quality mainstream movie was either the third The Dark Knight installment or Rurouni Kenshin 1. I only got to watch the second Hunger Games movie thanks to free movie tickets from our cable subscriber so that one doesn't count.
My personal issues with mainstream films aside---just don't bring up local mainstream films because I don't really care about all the "kilig feels" that these offer the general audience, I find them highly cliched so I stick to Cinemalaya and ancient socially relevant local films instead (see Oro, Plata, Mata)---I find that avoiding these over-hyped, crappy films helpful because it gave me free time to explore the state of the film industry of other countries. I've recently grown a fondness for Latin American films but I suspect that had been simmering since my brush with a few from my Latin American Literature class in graduate school. They're actually really good. Case in point: Geminis, this film I'll be reviewing here which is from Argentina. I've always had a fondness for the good Japanese film makers and I've even grown a liking to some Korean film makers that are bold enough to produce films with high social value/relevance. I have yet to look into French films and I'm not yet sure what to think about some German films since a lot of my brush with them ended up with me being horrified by how bizarre they could be. I've probably now amassed a collection of films on my hard drive that many of my friends will find strange but I don't care either way because most of my interest in them stemmed from the social relevance they actually offer as opposed to hollow, extremely superficial, overrated mainstream films with highly flawed---or it's not flawed but unnatural-looking in most films because they're so obvious it hurts my eyes...and my head (and heart as a film enthusiast among others)---CG effects shown on cinemas today.
Bottom line of all this three to four-paragraph rant: I think a lot of the films shown globally today are actually crap. I probably will never understand the fuss majority of the world gives to them. I couldn't care more or less either way. Just keep my mainstream 90s films out of this discussion because a lot of them, though cheesy-ish and a bit devoid of effective and feasible plot (?), are actually better than the stuff on cinemas today. There's no way of growing out of the 90s once you've gone through it as it is in my case.
For the record, I'm no hipster as I do watch a variety of films from mainstream to indie. I have equal love for both. I also find both sides a hit or miss most of the time so it's all in the personal preference. I just really tend to pick the films that I think are good no matter how subjective that can get.
Geminis
Also known as Gemini (possibly the American English title?), Geminis by Albertina Carri, a 2005 release is an Argentinian film I came across one online message thread/forum whilst looking for those that contained the controversial theme of consensual incest. I've been interested about the theme for some time now because it's one extremely rare phenomenon I'd like to study or at least gain a bit of insight or understanding on. I won't participate in it nor do I see myself getting into it because I'm 11 years older than my little brother and we're not really that close so...there's that out in the open. I'm not denying nor am I not keeping a blind eye to this because apparently, it does happen although very rarely. I find it an interesting thing to study nevertheless.
I won't go too deep into the plot of Geminis. I'll keep this one short.
Plot: Carri's Geminis tells of the life of what seems to be a normal middle class Argentinian family in modern day Buenos Aires consisting of a middle-aged mother (Lucia) and father (Daniel), an older brother (Ezequiel) and a pair of brother (Jeremias) and sister (Magdalena) twins who are most likely in their early 20s (and I"m only going by estimates here). The siblings, all three of them, are an attractive bunch and the family, as a whole, does seem well-adjusted to society on the outside. What sets them apart from other normal Argentinian families is that the twins have an ongoing physical and likely emotional intimate relationship they keep from the family, including their elder brother. The story begins when Ezequiel brings home to his family his new wife, Montserrat, so they could hold a wedding ceremony in Buenos Aires. The newly wedded couple lives in Spain. From this point towards the near end of the film is the family's preparation for the wedding ceremony so you see a ton of family interactions like regular family functions or family gatherings in their city home and later their home in the province. The twins' relationship isn't revealed until the sex scene in the rave club the siblings and Montse go to but you do get hints on how they seem to act like boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife early on. To the one watching the film, you'll likely find a lot of foreshadowing leading to this event like the twins' discussion on a documentary about pandas on TV and a bit later, their bickering at the grocery store. Their relationship with their mother is also trivial and can be seen as a clue to the nature of their relationship with one another. They team up when they do not like doing something their mother orders them to. The things they fight about between them also aren't the usual things that normal brothers and sisters do. So, long story short, the elder brother later discovers the twins' highly intimate relationship when they were in the countryside. This, of course, breaks him emotionally since he's been in the dark about this like the rest of the family is. Then the mother later finds out and goes in a shock when she comes back from a client's/friend's house to get something she left at home for work. The film ends on an open note and one can only conclude this succession of events didn't really stop the twins from participating in consensual incest.
It would be good to note that there are a lot of hints of the controversial subject the film dissects within it. There's the part where the mother discusses problems of consensual incest within the families of those in the lower class like that of their maid. There's also the discussion the mother has with her sister about what they fought about when they were younger. You can compare that one to the fights Meme and Jere have which you'd likely find to be unusual for most siblings. Then you have Meme (Magdalena) catching their maid, Olguita watching a soap opera from Caracas about a brother revealed by another to be having relations with his own blood-related sister. All these comes in handy when you get to dissect the film into pieces to get to its core message. These are also a great help to those who would like to unravel the film's relevance to today's society.
Social Relevance/Theme Discussion: There is still social stigma around consensual incest. Like other forms of incest, particularly the non-consensual kind, it's one of many social taboos we have today. Carri's Geminis might not remove that stigma and taboo around consensual incest, which I think is the better one between consensual and non-consensual, but it gives us, the critical thinking audience (assuming we are critically thinking while watching the film...yeah), an idea of how it's like for those who are in this kind of relationship. I, for one, would actually like to see the stigma and taboo removed on consensual incest, just the brother-sister and cousin-cousin ones, in the near future. This is because I think some cases of consensual incest has brothers and sisters or cousins and cousins who are actually genuinely in love with one another. I'd like them to be free to decide as to who they'd love rather than have society restrict them that freedom. This is part of the reason why I think that films like Geminis need to be recognized by the general public.
Geminis highlights society's reaction to consensual incest between siblings. The reactions of the eldest brother, Ezekiel and the mother, Lucia are likely exactly those that others would exhibit when they find out about their own family members engaging in incest consensually. There are numerous repercussions to consensual incest or just incest in general and this is something the film executed well. You can tell that it's socially relevant because of this. In the collective minds of today's society, incest, consensual or not, is wrong after all. The film is highly effective in educating the public about how consensual incest poses a problem to society.
While I don't have an issue with that, with how society views consensual incest wrong (there's no way to go around it in the first place because it's society you're dealing with), I'd really rather think that the film evokes one to question whether or not consensual incest is really wrong or not. This is because I ended up associating human nature and our ability to fall in love with others with the unique phenomena like that which Geminis presented and I decided there's nothing wrong with it. What i actually see in the film are two consenting adults in a loving---though there's nothing conclusive about that but just tasteful hints all throughout the film---relationship. I don't mean to romanticize consensual incest but there are cases where you just can't help who you fall in love with even if that one is your sibling or cousin. .
There are other media that do discuss consensual incest between siblings. I've browsed through Tabitha Suzuma's Forbidden and have gone through VC Andrews' Dollanganger series. I ended up having issues with them because I find that they paint consensual incest in a bad light. For both book series, the consensual incest was a result of two siblings being exposed to broken homes and both aren't exactly of the sound mind. Broken homes do affect many individuals psychologically and emotionally and there are numerous studies on that. In the case of Geminis, we have adult twins who grew up in a good, upper middle class household and as far as the film's audience could tell, they're well-adjusted individuals. This is why I actually like Geminis over others that try to explore brother-sister romantic love/consensual sibling incest. This is also why I think Forbidden and the Dollanganger series aren't at all realistic portrayals of some of the happier cases of consensual incest that we know today.
The consensual incest cases I write about here aren't the GSA (Genetic Sexual Attraction) kind. You may have heard of it already as it's been sensationalized by some news networks recently. It's the kind that happens between siblings or cousins who grew up together in the same household. I've read cases of it on some sites where the brother-sister couple are actually legitimately or genuinely in love with one another and yep, like I mentioned earlier, I don't see anything wrong with it. Now, with Geminis, I'd actually like to invite those who are interested in consensual incest as a social/socio-anthropological study to examine this rare phenomena with the way I tried to see and understand it. It would be good to look into cases of siblings or cousins who fall in love with one another too because I think this would at least lighten the social stigma around certain kinds of incest.
To those who would ask whether this film has great or quality entertainment value, I'd say it does if that's how shallow you'd like to look into Carri's Geminis. It works as an effective tragic, love-gone-wrong kind of film. It's also effective as a family-related film but not appropriate for the very young audience. It's also a good film if non-Argentinians would like a peek into how Argentian families work.
I enjoyed the film, thank you very much. I like the theme and its social implications. I think this is one of the better films on consensual incest that hits close to home when it comes to that subject. It's not overly produced and I think it's a solid film with a solid storyline or plot.
kg*