Gemini (2017)

Gemini: Directed by Aaron Katz. With Lola Kirke, Zoë Kravitz, John Cho, Greta Lee. A heinous crime tests the complex relationship between a tenacious personal assistant and her Hollywood starlet boss. As the assistant unravels the mystery, she must confront her own understanding of friendship, truth and celebrity.

“u0026quot;Hollywood is a place where theyu0026#39;ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.u0026quot; n Marilyn Monroeu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGemini is cinematographer Andrew Reedu0026#39;s film, from the glamorous long shots of LA at night, the hideaway bars in the seedy sides, to the dazzlingly modern flats. Any weaknesses in the film itself are swamped by the visual grandeur. Itu0026#39;s neo noir in muted neon and low-key suspense.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMovie star Heather (Zoe Kravitz) has charmed everyone who attends to her, even her not-rabidly devoted PA, Jill (Lola Kirke).Trouble brews when Heather bows out of a starring role and compromises several interested parties. After introducing a gun, director Aaron Katz has nowhere else to go according to convention other than to have the weapon return with its bloody purpose.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe thriller part is set, now, to be augmented by recurring motifs of friendship and loyalty, and something of a gay immediacy, lesbian to be precise. While the principals and their pals flirt with possibilities, the film is noir, after all, and requires detective work to flesh out the murderer with the attendant bad guys and girls and bleak setting.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe surprisingly low-key denouement with no appreciable thematic commentary leaves the mystery solved but weightless in human terms. Even a gloss of the industryu0026#39;s shallow hucksterism and uncontrollable ambitions would have been appreciated. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn the end, loyalty is the trump card that will propel the actors into another film with the same challenges and disappointments. Hollywood lives one despite intrigues and occasional murders. Thrillers about the biz will never die, and they will continue to draw us in given our fascination with tinsel townu0026#39;s ersatz loyalty. Itu0026#39;s the only royalty we really have anymore.”