He Was, Who They Wanted Him to Be...
Added 9/29/2009
All he did was give "them" what they wanted and he did it very well. Almost dreamlike in it's flow, this story moves swiftly along touching on situations and all kinds of people along the way, making the situations and people better than they were before he breezed through their lifes. Did he hurt anyone? Only himself. He gave a wonderful, slam-bang of a good time to everyone he came in contact with from the start of this film till the credits roll.
I found this film a complete delight.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Have I seen this story line before?
Added 2/8/2006
This is a really gay version of "The Talented Mr Ripley", I liked it and would watch it again.
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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"I knew he wasn't one of us!"
Added 10/1/2005
AKA is an interesting film about an interesting story, but I found the movie to be a little overrated. Yes - it's well acted, and considering the subject matter, it's a little over-long, and the sound is so muffled that it's often hard to hear the dialogue. Directed by Duncan Roy, AKA does succeed, however, as a type of modern-version of Vanity Fair turned completely on its head.
Based on a true story and set in England and France in the late 1970s is all about a young man of humble origins who makes his way into an aristocracy that may be not what it once was, yet still adheres as severely as ever to class distinctions. Dean Page (Matthew Leitch) is truly trapped, beset by a stepfather (Geoff Bell) who sexually abuses him and a loving mother Georgie (Lindsey Coulson) so intimidated by her husband that she won't even sign the papers that would allow her son the escape and opportunity a free government college education would provide.
Georgie works as waitress in a posh London restaurant, and tells Dean about all the aristocratic women that as he meets, in particular Lady Francine Gryffoyn (Diana Quick), whom she serves day in and day out. Dean is so enamored by the images of Lady Gryffoyn and in constant fear of his father that he runs away from home and applies for a job with Lady Francine at her art gallery.
Dean is just handsome, reserved, and diffident enough to catch milady's fancy. Beneath an often-nasty veneer, Lady Francine, a divorcée, is a vulnerable woman who snorts coke at gallery openings and knows her peers hate her because she must work for a living
All seems well for Dean until he runs up against Lady Francine's son, Alexander (Blake Ritson), an insufferable snob who jealous of his mother's attentions to him. Dean, however, has briefly crossed paths with a charismatic young American, Benjamin Halim (Peter Youngblood Hills), who tells him that Paris is the place to be.
In Paris, our young disaffected hero poses as David Gryffoyn and uses stolen credit cards to get by and maintain his now wealthy lifestyle. He also meets Benjamin's boyfriend David Glendenning (George Asprey), a rich and handsome British aristocrat who is instantly taken with him. Has he hobnobs with the filthy and decadent rich; he becomes carried away by his assumed identity, while also becoming potentially caught in a dicey triangle with David and Benjamin.
Amidst a sharply observed swath of decadence, involving mostly a lot of drugs, drinking and kinky sex, Roy suggests that with Dean caught between so jagged a rock and so hard a place at the outset of his story, perhaps he had nothing to lose by his imposture even if it is hardly likely to last.
AKA often veers radically from the totally engrossing to the silly. Some of the dialogue is laughable and totally unrealistic, particularly in one scene when Georgie, in an attempt to find her son, visits Lady Gryffoyn in her gallery, and is rebuffed with the comment "don't you people have the Social Services for this sort of thing." One might also wonder whether the English Aristocracy are really as decadent and as useless as this films makes them out to be.
Having said this, AKA is still mostly watchable thanks to the understated performances of both Matthew Leitch and Peter Youngblood Hills. And it is a testament to Leitch's sympathetic portrayal of Dean that we somehow hope that he will get away with this charade unscathed. Roy acutely weaves his social, psychological, and emotional observations into the narrative making AKA a mostly amusing, poignant, and insightful exploration into the enigmas of the British class system.
Indeed, the far more aware and experienced Benjamin, in all his insecurities and changeability, holds up for Dean a mirror that Dean naturally resists peering into at all costs. But it is a mirror that Dean has to look into if he wants to save his soul, find the redemption that he is looking for, and ultimately rediscover his true identity. Mike Leonard September 05.
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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Average film
Added 7/11/2005
This british movie is a "queer version" of "Mr Ripley", which is not a bad starting point. However there are too many flaws to say this is a good movie. Some actors are probably not professional, especially some bi-characters are extremely bad, overacting and very ennoying. The story is though interesting enough to be worth seeing. There are so many bad gay movies out there, so this one is far from the worse....
1 out of 7 people found this helpful.
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artful and true
Added 1/19/2005
AKA is writer/director Duncan Roy's thought-provoking memoir of his own youth. He escaped from a brutal, sexually abusive working-class household by assuming the identity of a young aristocrat and became famous - or notorious, rather - in the process.
Mr. Roy's movie is brilliantly written, directed, and cast. Matthew Leitch is perfect as Dean, the handsome, sweet, innocently seductive young man who desperately wants a better -- or, to be more precise, another -- life. His intelligence, looks, charm, and manner make people want to believe he is who he says. All the actors are notable and entertaining. Two are exceptional: Diana Quick as the prickly patrician Lady Gryffoyn, whose son Dean impersonates; and George Asprey as the striking, urbane, gay aristocrat who takes Dean under his wing. Heir to the Asprey fortune in real life, he was born for the part.
Aside from the fascinating story, imaginative photography done solely with available light, and perfect musical support, AKA is a scathing portrayal of the English class system, where aristocrats rely on certain cues (accent, pronunciation, name, manners, schooling, demeanor) to identify one another and preserve their exclusivity. Dean lives as 'one of them' successfully and happily for over a year. After which he says, quite truthfully (if Mr. Roy's portrait of Alexander Gryffoyn is in any way accurate in its mean-spirited snobbery), that he was a better Lord Gryffoyn than the real one could ever be. Mr. Roy also depicts a working class equally complicit in maintaining 'place' and limited social mobility.
After watching the single screen version, the three-screen triptych version, as it was released theatrically, is an interesting complement which adds dimension to the story. Mr. Roy's commentary track is illuminating politically, and enlightening cinematically. His film is a very personal work of art. The entire ensemble is outstanding, but the talent and beauty of Matthew Leitch form the solid core on which the story rests.
10 out of 10 people found this helpful.
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He Was, Who They Wanted Him to Be...
Added 9/29/2009
All he did was give "them" what they wanted and he did it very well. Almost dreamlike in it's flow, this story moves swiftly along touching on situations and all kinds of people along the way, making the situations and people better than they were before he breezed through their lifes. Did he hurt anyone? Only himself. He gave a wonderful, slam-bang of a good time to everyone he came in contact with from the start of this film till the credits roll.
I found this film a complete delight.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
Have I seen this story line before?
Added 2/8/2006
This is a really gay version of "The Talented Mr Ripley", I liked it and would watch it again.
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
|
"I knew he wasn't one of us!"
Added 10/1/2005
AKA is an interesting film about an interesting story, but I found the movie to be a little overrated. Yes - it's well acted, and considering the subject matter, it's a little over-long, and the sound is so muffled that it's often hard to hear the dialogue. Directed by Duncan Roy, AKA does succeed, however, as a type of modern-version of Vanity Fair turned completely on its head.
Based on a true story and set in England and France in the late 1970s is all about a young man of humble origins who makes his way into an aristocracy that may be not what it once was, yet still adheres as severely as ever to class distinctions. Dean Page (Matthew Leitch) is truly trapped, beset by a stepfather (Geoff Bell) who sexually abuses him and a loving mother Georgie (Lindsey Coulson) so intimidated by her husband that she won't even sign the papers that would allow her son the escape and opportunity a free government college education would provide.
Georgie works as waitress in a posh London restaurant, and tells Dean about all the aristocratic women that as he meets, in particular Lady Francine Gryffoyn (Diana Quick), whom she serves day in and day out. Dean is so enamored by the images of Lady Gryffoyn and in constant fear of his father that he runs away from home and applies for a job with Lady Francine at her art gallery.
Dean is just handsome, reserved, and diffident enough to catch milady's fancy. Beneath an often-nasty veneer, Lady Francine, a divorcée, is a vulnerable woman who snorts coke at gallery openings and knows her peers hate her because she must work for a living
All seems well for Dean until he runs up against Lady Francine's son, Alexander (Blake Ritson), an insufferable snob who jealous of his mother's attentions to him. Dean, however, has briefly crossed paths with a charismatic young American, Benjamin Halim (Peter Youngblood Hills), who tells him that Paris is the place to be.
In Paris, our young disaffected hero poses as David Gryffoyn and uses stolen credit cards to get by and maintain his now wealthy lifestyle. He also meets Benjamin's boyfriend David Glendenning (George Asprey), a rich and handsome British aristocrat who is instantly taken with him. Has he hobnobs with the filthy and decadent rich; he becomes carried away by his assumed identity, while also becoming potentially caught in a dicey triangle with David and Benjamin.
Amidst a sharply observed swath of decadence, involving mostly a lot of drugs, drinking and kinky sex, Roy suggests that with Dean caught between so jagged a rock and so hard a place at the outset of his story, perhaps he had nothing to lose by his imposture even if it is hardly likely to last.
AKA often veers radically from the totally engrossing to the silly. Some of the dialogue is laughable and totally unrealistic, particularly in one scene when Georgie, in an attempt to find her son, visits Lady Gryffoyn in her gallery, and is rebuffed with the comment "don't you people have the Social Services for this sort of thing." One might also wonder whether the English Aristocracy are really as decadent and as useless as this films makes them out to be.
Having said this, AKA is still mostly watchable thanks to the understated performances of both Matthew Leitch and Peter Youngblood Hills. And it is a testament to Leitch's sympathetic portrayal of Dean that we somehow hope that he will get away with this charade unscathed. Roy acutely weaves his social, psychological, and emotional observations into the narrative making AKA a mostly amusing, poignant, and insightful exploration into the enigmas of the British class system.
Indeed, the far more aware and experienced Benjamin, in all his insecurities and changeability, holds up for Dean a mirror that Dean naturally resists peering into at all costs. But it is a mirror that Dean has to look into if he wants to save his soul, find the redemption that he is looking for, and ultimately rediscover his true identity. Mike Leonard September 05.
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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