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.

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.

There are some elements of Hitchcock in the film. The set up is annoyingly slow for some people, but it's quite rewarding. The message of the film, is to listen to your own self, not the doppelganger. the doppelganger is within us, not necessarily seen. The point of him seeing is doppelganger, is that his double has the temerity to do the things he (Hayasaki) couldn't do. As he becomes bolder and more amoral he wonders is he becoming the doppelganger? Is Hayashi becoming the worst part of himself? Or perhaps his double is the real suppressed Hayashi? He discovers his ruthless, ambitious, lustful self through his double. It would make an interesting remake with issues of duality and existentialism. If we could have a conversation with ourselves, what would we say? - what would our other self say to us? This would be a fascinating concept that was done in several films - most notably "Jo Jo Dancer, Your life is Calling" - "the ghost of Christmas future showing Jimmy Stewart's future without him and his effect on others. Also "Family Man" with Nicolas Cage explored this theme. DePalma's "Raising Cain" (to a lesser degree) I thought this premise was pretty good - some may think it was a bit underdeveloped, but I liked it.

Doppleganger is a smart film and I think that people are selling it short by looking at the negatives like "lack of CG FX". Money doesn't make the best films. If you're looking for only horror films, this may not be for you, but to slander Doppleganger for bad marketing, too, is not the film's fault. Not every Asia Extreme film is going to be a horror-masterpiece. There has to be room for flexibility within the genres and this movie is one of those. It's a thriller, without the blood. You can't blame the film for that. And judging a movie by the box is just plain dumb. With that aside, yes, I did pop in the DVD assuming it would be horror, but the film impressed me nonetheless. It's actually more of a sci-fi psychological thriller. It reminded me of the cult classic 80's films like 'The Reanimator' except without the same "gore/slasher" aspects. To begin with the acting is amazing, but that's not even the best part. The director is really on top of his game.What's amazing about these Asian directors like Kurosawa is that they're more versed in American cinema than the idiots directing for the big American studios these days. If you look at the way the story unfolds, and the movement of the camera, and music choice, not to mention the awesome split screen (which I thought was really advantageous to this movie) you can tell that Kurosawa has to have seen some classic DePalma movies like "Blowout" and "Body Double" (Blowout, 1980 -- Tarantino loved it...and was the reason he used Travolta in Pulp Fiction). It's also feels like there's a shadow of Cronenberg as well, and those robots look like "Johnny 5" from Short Circuit.What you have to understand is that this film is looking at the idea of the doppleganger as a metaphor. A lot of people have trouble understanding the fact that these types of movies are psychological and often contain the unexplainable. Like in fight club with Brad Pitt's character, the doppleganger is not really real. He exercises control over Hayasaki because Hayasaki lacks the will to believe in himself and his science.The movie really dissects the idea of what it means that we have a 'will' in the first place. That's what's going on in the 2nd scene where they're trying to adjust the controls. The intern kid is a weak person, without a strong will and he cannot control the robot device. The movie is ultimately about control. And Hayasaki's lack of control is what creates the doppleganger in the first place. The ending isn't really that ambiguous, either. I don't know why anyone would think it's ambiguous. I won't spoil it, though.Anyway, here's the point. If you like psychological thrillers, you're a fan of cult psychological thrillers and science films, and you want to see a movie that is totally engaging, has some cool robot scenes and a solid plot, Doppleganger is a great film.