Teknolust

I saw this film at the Seattle International Film Festival this year. It sounds cool when you read about it, but really it isn't.

Although Tilda Swinton's acting in this film is fantastic, the film itself left much to be desired for me. The script was really weak and the whole movie got bogged down in cheesiness. The production value of this picture was pretty impressive, though. All shot on digital video, it was amazingly clear and the computer effects were pretty impressive.

I would say to pass on this one, though.

Don't be fooled by the provocative title and the R-rating, this film has only implied sex and only the briefest nudity. Rather, it is a thought-provoking but odd piece of work that delves into the meaning of relationships between men and women, the need to experience life's pain along with pleasures, and the different roles that we play to survive in society. The film is about a scientist who creates three computer generated/robotic duplicates of her own self. The duplicates exist in a virtual reality "safe" from the harm that the real world can levy on them. As the film progresses, we see through the interactions with the main character that they have become her alter egos. Trouble brews when they start to become self-aware and want more freedom. As I watched the film I was surprised by the apparent low budget it was made with but how it outshines most big-budget Hollywood blockbusters in its depth and scope. The acting is OK but amateurish, with occasional bad timing and wooden responses. The dialogue seems to get a little too long and pretentious at times and you have to be very attentive to catch the double entendres and metaphors in order to keep up with the script. Despite all this, it was a very good movie that proves that there is under-appreciated talent out there that Hollywood refuses to acknowledge. People that liked films like Slaughterhouse-5, Orlando, or the Handmaid's Tale would be advised to give this film a try.

When I read that this film was going (someday) to be released, I knew that I'd love it. Swinton and Jeremy Davies acting, and Lynn Hershman writing and directing was a sure (for me) winning team.

You get what you expect. I loved Teknolust. I suppose I should change genders. I am a male (or at least I was at last check). Grr. Or should I say Girrly.

For most male Egos in Bushy Amerika this kind of `Fem-Film' is out-of-bounds.

This is a film for anyone who wants a chance to chuckle at the absurdities of modern life. If you don't go see `Master and Commander.'

"Teknolust" is so inane, it's offensive. As someone who has spent years in both microbiology and computer labs, I found the storyline & dialog completely nonsensical. It was so bad, I couldn't even laugh.

Remember those "corporate bs generators" that randomly chose one word from each of 3 columns to create phrases that sounded like they meant something, but didn't? I think the writers for this movie combined a "computer bs generator" with a "virology bs generator" and used that to create the script.

Lame, lame, lame!!! Don't waste your time.

First of all, you can't look at this movie in terms of realism, it's just a big psychadelic dream. Yes, we all know computer viruses and human viruses can't be transmitted to one another; but it's also not the point of this movie. This movie has to be looked upon as pure fantasy, not as a study of possible future reality. Hell, the solid red, green, and yellow color schemes should clue you in that this is more like 60's psychadelic dreams. Other clues that this is fantasy is that Rosetta talks to her clones, Ruby, Olive, and Marine through a microwave oven!

One great line in the movie that really got me rolling on the floor was when Olive tells Marine that a virus that she just eradicated was from an attachment, and Marine responds that "Rosetta was right attachments are dangerous". Of course, this was double entendre, one meaning of the word "attachment" meant email attachments, while the other one meant relationships. If you didn't understand this movie the first time, then you owe it to yourself to watch it again to catch all of these little pokes at modern life.