The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity
... View MoreThe movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
... View MoreIt really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
... View MoreWorth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.
... View MoreInfantile psychotic twins Jacki and Julian (Judy Geeson and Martin Potter) arrive in London, immediately arranging an accident for their grouchy landlady so that they can have the run of the place. The siblings then set about experiencing the swinging London party scene, where they meet louche rogue Clive (Alexis Kanner, sporting some impressive mutton-chops). After Clive is roughed up by a bookmaker to whom he owes £400, he tricks Julian into bed with a pair of transvestites, takes a few photos and proceeds to blackmail the young man. However, instead of getting cash for his troubles, Clive gets knifed in the neck instead.As a child of the '70s, I have an affinity with films from that era, especially those set in the UK, but Goodbye Gemini was a tough one to endure. It's horrible, hippy nonsense that features hedonistic characters hard to sympathise with, atrocious dialogue, and incomprehensible behaviour from all involved. An incestuous relationship between the inseparable twins is hinted at, which adds an edginess to proceedings, the music is groovy, and there are a couple of outrageously camp homosexuals who are mildly amusing (one wears a bright pink shirt and uses the word 'ducky' a lot—you don't get much more '70s than that!), but there really is very little else worthy of mention.
... View MoreThe film starts off well. We are on a bus. As the Peddlers sing and play the song "Tell the World We're Not In," We see a carefree pair of star- crossed lovers. As the film progresses, we find out that the pair are actually twins. They are both immature. And they talk to a teddy bear named Agamemnon. In one scene the male twin uses the teddy bear as an oracle, which is probably how the source novel is called "Ask Agamemnon". In real life, twins can shut the world out even to the point of constructing their very own language. This pair have not got that far, but they have reached the point where incest is very much in evidence. Jenni Hall, the novelist also wrote: My Son, My Lover, which also touches on incest.The pair fall into the Swinging London scene. There are drugs, scotch whisky, very camp gays, transvestites to add to incestuous twins. The impression I get is that the whole thing is to shock people for the sake of shocking them...under the guise of Swinging London. I was up and about in Swinging London. If you were at a party, chances were you would be drinking wine or beer, dancing with someone of the opposite sex,and dressed according to your own gender. People even smoked tobacco. And I can't say I ever witnessed anyone conversing with a teddy bear.The male twin is the most unstable of the two, and wants to shut the rest of the world out; he just wants to be with his sister. That does not stop him for going out for the night with his sister's boyfriend to a seedy hotel, where he is seduced by transvestites. His sister's boyfriend photographs the proceedings, and uses it to blackmail the male twin,so that he can pay off a large sum of money to a violent loan shark, played by a moustachioed Mike Pratt.The male twin challenges his sister's boyfriend to tell the twins apart. While the latter is out of the room, the twins dress in bedsheets where eyeholes have been cut with a sword. The sheets of course conceal the sword as well. The boyfriend is invited back in....Having been through incest, violence, smoking illegal substances, cross-dressing, male-on- male rape; then murder and subsequent suicide are mere bagatelles.Quoting from Dame Edith Sitwell has not been fashionable for years. But her criticism of "that insignificant, dirty little book" which is how she described "Lady Chatterley's Lover," is what comes to mind when seeing this film. There comes a time in life when you stop pretending to be open-minded, and say: "Look I don't want to see this. I really don't want my nose nailed to other people's lavatories." We all know that there are people who have minds like sewers. The problem comes when they ram their filth down other people's throats. And Society really does degenerate as a result. Fortunately, the Peddlers made a record of "Tell the World We're Not In;" so you can enjoy the best bit of this "insignificant, dirty little" film without having to watch it.
... View MoreTwins arrive in London on an overnight bus wearing matching fluorescent jackets and clutching a teddy-bear (always a sign of evil). They've not even unpacked their bags before they murder their new landlady and get invited to an inevitably swinging' party. Jacki (Judy Geeson) is the female half of the twins and looks lovely even in the aforementioned garment, which is more than can be said for Julian (Martin Potter). He's the possessive twin who swings both ways and whose love for his sister is less than wholesome. They attend a few parties, talk to their teddy and get mixed up with some menacing Earls Court transvestites, a liaison that leads to blackmail and murder.There's nothing here that can really be called a narrative, it's more like someone thought a swinging London movie with a psycho tilt would be really groovy. However, the film is based upon Ask Agamemnon by Jenni Hall (no, I've never heard of it, either). Despite the wavering storyline it's a strangely compelling film with an admirable wildness. The cast are game, except Michael Redgrave who has the air of an actor unaccustomed to such material. The camera-work from Geoffrey Unsworth is as exceptional as ever, tut the psychotic tone is best summed up by The Peddlers funky theme song: ('when the world comes knocking') Tell The World We're Not In.
... View MoreI really didn't know what to expect when I got to watching this. After the end, I walked away with a sense of watching twins who were not far outta their element.What you'll get with this one is a fraternal twin brother and sister come to London. They're new in town and they have 2 real issues, they haven't grown-up and they're a tad too close to each other. They're in the early 20's and they cling to each other like white on rice and still like to play childhood games we all did when we were young. Problem is, they're right smack dab in the middle of swinging London in the late 1960's and there's a lot of strange characters lurking about. Of course not 1 is even close to the bizarreness these twins are but they are of the normal variety with "criminal" tendencies and they decide to try and pounce on what they think is an "easy" opportunity. Big mistake...these twins aren't that naive.For me to go into scenes and plot would be a big mistake. I will say to expect some cross dressing, rape and murder. Strange scenes to say the least. You almost get the feeling that this was a wanna-be art film.Most of the film you'll be trying to figure how these twins were raised...i.e...how they became the way they are. Of course we never do find out. Just expect a strange film about twins who are way to close to each other for their own good.
... View More