Click to read the article
AKA (2002)
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Matthew Leitch, Diana Quick, Blake Ritson, Peter Youngblood Hills, Bill Nighy
DVD Info
Release:
Feb 8, 2005
DVD Features:
- Region (unknown)
- Keep Case
- Widescreen - 1.85
Audio :
- Dolby Digital - English
Additional Release Material:
- Audio Commentaries - 1. Duncan Roy - Director
- Trailer
Reviews
Though the viewing experience takes a bit of getting used to, the film surpasses its visual quirkiness and is genuinely absorbing to watch.
The visual style makes us look from left to right, unable to take our eyes from the screen. When we are not getting inside characters' memories or being invited to muse on their ways of looking at the world, we are simply immersed in the film's reality.
As the movie goes on (and on), this triple-image effect ultimately starts to feel less effective than what a single, well-placed camera might convey.
The three-panel format gives the digitally shot picture enormous psycho-emotional layering.
'AKA' is DOA...boring, and boring in an irritatingly complicated way.
The story is an interesting one, so I wanted to like this. I guess with three movies on the screen, I must have been watching the wrong one.
Does the radical choice to split up the action contribute anything that couldn't be achieved in a more traditional format? The answer is a well-earned affirmative, and the drama is solid enough to make the whole enterprise worthwhile.
An interesting though not extremely successful experiment, but it definitely makes you want to see what Duncan Roy does next.
Coupling the plot with the presentation -- and the appealing cinematography -- makes AKA a film not to miss.
The triptych scheme underscores the basic blandness of Matthew Leitch as the hero, a cipher on the make.


Top Critic