Gemini season is upon us! Don’t be scared—Geminis get a bad rap but the main takeaway from their season is flexibility. They are as changeable as the wind but never dull. If the steadfast energies of Taurus season made you yawn then jump on the Gemini train, you never know where it will stop! You know the feeling of googling something then falling down an internet search hole as one thing leads to another? That’s Gemini energy, flitting about to whatever you find interesting with no plan in place. Geminis are ruled by Mercury, the planet of communication. They LOVE to talk, sometimes a little too much, as gossiping can be a problem for them. They’re also very witty, knowledgeable, curious and absolutely delightful to be around. They are represented by the twins, and they have a dual nature, their personalities can run the gamut from Stevie Nicks to Donald Trump – it doesn’t make sense, just roll with it. That’s the spirit of the season.
The Top 10 Gemini Movies
10. Mulholland Drive (2001)
David Lynch’s failed TV show-turned-feature-film has a meandering narrative that is hard to pin down, much like Geminis themselves. It’s a film where one thing leads to another and another, and yet nothing really leads anywhere. It’s best viewed as an experience without a more profound meaning. If you can get behind that, the Gemini season will be a breeze for you.
9. Before Sunrise (1995)
Geminis love a great conversation, so what could be better than a romance film that consists entirely of a conversation? This popular and enduring Richard Linklater film spawned two sequels, each starring the easy-on-the-eyes duo of Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke.
8. To Catch a Thief (1955)
The cornerstone of the Gemini personality is to amuse in an intelligent and electrifying way, so this Hitchcock-directed caper film starring the personification of charm itself, Cary Grant, is a must. The film’s main drawback is its reliance on charm over substance, just like our Gemini friends.
7. So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)
Mike Myers, a real-life Gemini, stars as a commitment-phobic man who finally falls in love with a sweet butcher (Nancy Travis). It’s only when his gossip-loving mother (Brenda Blethyn) reads about a serial killer in the tabloids that Myers becomes convinced he married a cold-hearted killer. Myers made a successful career playing a multitude of charming characters, and here he plays both the lead and his outrageous father. The film explores the Gemini themes of the dual nature of humanity in its own silly way.
6. Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1986)
There was a brief era when Hollywood tried to make Whoopi Goldberg the female Eddie Murphy, and Jumpin’ Jack Flash is from that time. Penny Marshall’s directorial feature debut casts Goldberg as a bored office worker who is pulled into international espionage after a spy hacks her computer and asks her for help. She harnesses Gemini energy by shifting appearances and identities to unearth clues like any good spy would. It also gets bonus points for subversive feminist plot touches—the brave woman saves the handsome man and wins his heart.
5. The Nutty Professor (1963)
The dual nature of the Gemini is represented by poor Professor Julius Kelp (Jerry Lewis), a hapless nerd who transforms Jekyll-and-Hyde style into a cold lothario, Buddy Love. This is Jerry Lewis’s masterpiece, and if you have never seen a Lewis film, get on it! You could say the movie examines the actor’s own sense of self—the bumbling loser he personified on-screen and the patronizing bully he was known to be off-screen. But the central message of the film is self-love. It contains moments of real poignancy as Julius tells the audience, “You might as well like yourself. Just think about all the time you’re going to have to spend with you.”
4. Broadcast News (1987)
James L. Brooks’s slick, witty script sculpts the brilliant performances of Holly Hunter, William Hurt, Albert Brooks and Jack Nicholson in this media satire. Geminis love spreading knowledge so all films about the media are right up their alley.
3. Charade (1963)
This is one of my all-time favourite movies. Audrey Hepburn plays Regina Lambert, a widow who discovers her husband was a criminal, and even worse, stole from a bunch of other criminals who now want the loot back. She gets entangled with the charming Peter Joshua (Cary Grant) while trying to escape. She begins to fall in love, but good old Joshua may not be who he claims to be. This might be the ultimate Gemini movie as it combines witty dialogue, international intrigue, and shifting identities all into one stylishly-executed classic Hollywood feast for the eyes.
2. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
I know, I know—this is the third Cary Grant film on the list! And although he wasn’t one in real life, he does represent the incredible charm of the Gemini on-screen. And the screwball comedy is another film genre that really appeals to the wild and hilarious Gemini spirit but has fallen out of fashion in modern times. So, Cary Grant it is. Here Grant plays against type as an absent-minded professor (palaeontologist, technically) who is relentlessly pursued by a ditzy, adventure-seeking heiress (Katherine Hepburn). The plot careens at a breathless pace and it is hard to encapsulate it all, but it involves a missing dinosaur bone and a pet leopard. Naturally.
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
Although Quentin Tarantino is technically Aries-born, he really uses the Gemini archetypes to full effect in his films. Pulp Fiction is the perfect example. We have incredibly witty dialogue, the episodic narrative structure, and the referential cinematic touches all wrapped up in a crime film genre classic.