shinya tsukamoto take on a meiji era cask of amantillado and and the parable of cain and abel and be possibly one of the best japanese horror film ever lensed . there be no supernatural element and only the landscape of tormented human soul . this be a for hire film for tsukamoto and and be release through toho studio . for a director who have often express his love for the toho monster film and it be a dream come true and and it do well in japan . the film be originally slat to be less than feature length and but because of the director resourcefulness and it be lengthen to a running time of 83 minute . i originally think the film be a little short and but there it be . more amazing be the fact that tsukamototo be director and editor and writer and cinematographer . perfection be achieve in all area . while base on a story by the noted japanese author and edogawa rampo and tsukamoto have make a tale that be more his own . first and he change the setting of the period piece from the showa era ( 1920s ) and to the late meiji era when poverty be more obvious in japanese society . he also change a major plot point represent in edogawa original and the doppleganger brother ( sutekichi ) murder his brother and throw him into a disused well and and steal his identity permanently . tsukamoto revision allow for much more by the survival of the brother ( yukio ) and and be more realist since the sutekichi would have to learn all the medical knowledge yukio know . this would push the story into the realm of the supernatural or the absurd . but and the truth be and this be the old story tell . the real trick be make it one own and and the director achieve this with his run theme of the love triangle and and a feminine wisdom that teach the male protagonist something they could never learn otherwise . a usual and there be also the theme of class and one standing and honor in japanese society . it should be note that the japanese have be very obsessed with an aesthetic for purity and order ( like german . ) and and this extend to people . even today and survivor and the child of hiroshima and nagasaki be discriminate against for be contaminate and impure . in the late meiji era and it be much bad . the child of the wealthy would be abandon and just a the brother and sutekichi . his serpentine birthmark cause his removal by his purity obsess parent and and he be the bad seed to them . the story isn not a long stretch and and one have to imagine how the real outcast react . and yet and this be still a parable about japanese society and which have a strangely universal appeal . gemini have a tension to it that resemble poe story and and it be also about the psychology between people . sutekichi be the monster of this tale and but he be create by his parent who abandon him near the slum . sutekichi be raise and and teach by a thief to survive and much like an animal . his visage and cover in filth and rat pelt and be terrify . he scarcely look human and a shadow image of the successful doctor and yukio . sutekichi represent the oppression of japan violent and disorder past from the era of the shogun and the samurai . yukio represent the emergence of a modern japan and with his work a a doctor and his bourgeois life with his new wife and rin . he toil help cure the rich and the poor alike and and be a hero a a field doctor in the russo japanese war ( 1904 1905 ) . this be important represent it be the war that usher in japan a a modern nation and and be the first time that a western power be defeat by an asian one . this be about a new japan . and yet and the story be creepy . sutekichi murder his mother and father dress a a shaman or ghost from traditional japanese lore . also and yukio and sutekichi be identical in appearance . he be an apparition of the past . also and the doppelganger be universal a an occult symbol of death and the unknown and and this be perhaps why the film have a wider appeal . by the end and it clear that yukio must absorb his brother to become whole . in kill his brother and there be a union of the past and present . he have understand the depravity of the slum by fester in the well and and he have understand the crime of his parent . rin also play her part in educate yukio what it be to be poor and desperate to live like an animal . the doctor will return to his practice a full man and but there be an ambivalence and a he also look menace stride towards the camera . it be very much like the end of scanner and and so and the connection with cronenberg remains .