Empire Pictures
NEW YORK -- There's a certain authenticity of feeling in this film, written and directed by Duncan Roy, about a young man who insinuates himself into the world of the upper class by posing as one of their own. That's because Roy performed a similar stunt between the ages of 17 and 22 and went to prison for his troubles.
Unfortunately, this film based on his experiences is not quite as compelling as the filmmaker's own story might have been, due somewhat to its lackadaisical pacing and jarring shifts of tone but mainly because of the unfortunate decision to present the entire film in a triptych format, with three separate images onscreen at the same time. As it was in recent similar efforts like Mike Figgis' "Timecode", the technique is needlessly distracting and off-putting, and this intimate story is hardly in need of such a device.
Set in the late 1970s, "AKA" presents the misadventures of Dean Page (Matthew Leitch), a handsome and articulate 18-year-old from a lower-middle-class family who has long suffered both the constraints of his upbringing and the often violent abuse of his stepfather. Inspired by his mother's rather deluded notion of being friends with the upper-class customers she waits on at the restaurant at which she works, Dean approaches one of the haughtier ones, Lady Gryffoyn (Diana Quick), and snags a job as an assistant at her gallery.
Soon, Lady Gryffoyn has taken the personable young man under her wing, even inviting him to live temporarily in her house because he has nowhere else to go. But things don't go quite as well with her jealous son, Alex (Blake Ritson), and Dean, taking the advice of his American friend Benjamin (Peter Youngblood Hills), hightails it to Paris, where he, a la "The Talented Mr. Ripley", assumes Alex's identity. He finds himself living with Benjamin and his rich lover (George Asprey), eventually taking Benjamin's place in the older man's affections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
NEW YORK -- There's a certain authenticity of feeling in this film, written and directed by Duncan Roy, about a young man who insinuates himself into the world of the upper class by posing as one of their own. That's because Roy performed a similar stunt between the ages of 17 and 22 and went to prison for his troubles.
Unfortunately, this film based on his experiences is not quite as compelling as the filmmaker's own story might have been, due somewhat to its lackadaisical pacing and jarring shifts of tone but mainly because of the unfortunate decision to present the entire film in a triptych format, with three separate images onscreen at the same time. As it was in recent similar efforts like Mike Figgis' "Timecode", the technique is needlessly distracting and off-putting, and this intimate story is hardly in need of such a device.
Set in the late 1970s, "AKA" presents the misadventures of Dean Page (Matthew Leitch), a handsome and articulate 18-year-old from a lower-middle-class family who has long suffered both the constraints of his upbringing and the often violent abuse of his stepfather. Inspired by his mother's rather deluded notion of being friends with the upper-class customers she waits on at the restaurant at which she works, Dean approaches one of the haughtier ones, Lady Gryffoyn (Diana Quick), and snags a job as an assistant at her gallery.
Soon, Lady Gryffoyn has taken the personable young man under her wing, even inviting him to live temporarily in her house because he has nowhere else to go. But things don't go quite as well with her jealous son, Alex (Blake Ritson), and Dean, taking the advice of his American friend Benjamin (Peter Youngblood Hills), hightails it to Paris, where he, a la "The Talented Mr. Ripley", assumes Alex's identity. He finds himself living with Benjamin and his rich lover (George Asprey), eventually taking Benjamin's place in the older man's affections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Empire Pictures
NEW YORK -- There's a certain authenticity of feeling in this film, written and directed by Duncan Roy, about a young man who insinuates himself into the world of the upper class by posing as one of their own. That's because Roy performed a similar stunt between the ages of 17 and 22 and went to prison for his troubles.
Unfortunately, this film based on his experiences is not quite as compelling as the filmmaker's own story might have been, due somewhat to its lackadaisical pacing and jarring shifts of tone but mainly because of the unfortunate decision to present the entire film in a triptych format, with three separate images onscreen at the same time. As it was in recent similar efforts like Mike Figgis' "Timecode", the technique is needlessly distracting and off-putting, and this intimate story is hardly in need of such a device.
Set in the late 1970s, "AKA" presents the misadventures of Dean Page (Matthew Leitch), a handsome and articulate 18-year-old from a lower-middle-class family who has long suffered both the constraints of his upbringing and the often violent abuse of his stepfather. Inspired by his mother's rather deluded notion of being friends with the upper-class customers she waits on at the restaurant at which she works, Dean approaches one of the haughtier ones, Lady Gryffoyn (Diana Quick), and snags a job as an assistant at her gallery.
Soon, Lady Gryffoyn has taken the personable young man under her wing, even inviting him to live temporarily in her house because he has nowhere else to go. But things don't go quite as well with her jealous son, Alex Blake Ritson), and Dean, taking the advice of his American friend Benjamin (Peter Youngblood Hills), hightails it to Paris, where he, a la "The Talented Mr. Ripley", assumes Alex's identity. He finds himself living with Benjamin and his rich lover (George Asprey), eventually taking Benjamin's place in the older man's affections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
NEW YORK -- There's a certain authenticity of feeling in this film, written and directed by Duncan Roy, about a young man who insinuates himself into the world of the upper class by posing as one of their own. That's because Roy performed a similar stunt between the ages of 17 and 22 and went to prison for his troubles.
Unfortunately, this film based on his experiences is not quite as compelling as the filmmaker's own story might have been, due somewhat to its lackadaisical pacing and jarring shifts of tone but mainly because of the unfortunate decision to present the entire film in a triptych format, with three separate images onscreen at the same time. As it was in recent similar efforts like Mike Figgis' "Timecode", the technique is needlessly distracting and off-putting, and this intimate story is hardly in need of such a device.
Set in the late 1970s, "AKA" presents the misadventures of Dean Page (Matthew Leitch), a handsome and articulate 18-year-old from a lower-middle-class family who has long suffered both the constraints of his upbringing and the often violent abuse of his stepfather. Inspired by his mother's rather deluded notion of being friends with the upper-class customers she waits on at the restaurant at which she works, Dean approaches one of the haughtier ones, Lady Gryffoyn (Diana Quick), and snags a job as an assistant at her gallery.
Soon, Lady Gryffoyn has taken the personable young man under her wing, even inviting him to live temporarily in her house because he has nowhere else to go. But things don't go quite as well with her jealous son, Alex Blake Ritson), and Dean, taking the advice of his American friend Benjamin (Peter Youngblood Hills), hightails it to Paris, where he, a la "The Talented Mr. Ripley", assumes Alex's identity. He finds himself living with Benjamin and his rich lover (George Asprey), eventually taking Benjamin's place in the older man's affections and home. Meanwhile, his audacious spending on stolen credit cards has attracted the interest of the local police.
Telling his tale at a sluggish, attenuated pace, the director-screenwriter doesn't help matters with his screenplay's often artificial-sounding dialogue and stereotypical characterizations. Also problematic are the shifts in tone -- from realistic drama to comedy of manners to would-be thriller -- and the highly uneven performances. Although Leitch is quite convincing as the duplicitous Dean, several of the supporting players are allowed to indulge their character's more exaggerated traits too often.
But most deleterious is the split-screen approach, which reduces the widescreen image to three small boxes. Inconsistently shifting from framing the action from a variety of angles to simply repeating certain images to presenting other visuals entirely, the technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine. the film suffers from an overeagerness to make the action compelling, with uncertain camera placement and frantic editing at times serving to distract rather than enhance. The choreography by Laurie Ann Gibson (who has a small part as Honey's evil rival) ranges from a baffling and lifeless Tweet video, with its robotic moves and incongruous Flying by Foy, to the exuberant freestyling of the kids in Honey's class. The highlight is the kids' rehearsal for a Ginuwine video: Shot simply, the scene boasts terrific dancing and the story's most powerful dramatic moment.
HONEY
Universal Pictures
A Marc Platt/Nuamerica production
Credits:
Director: Bille Woodruff
Screenwriters: Alonzo Brown, Kim Watson
Producers: Marc Platt, Andre Harrell
Executive producer: Billy Higgins
Director of photography: John R. Leonetti
Production designer: Jasna Stefanovich
Music: Mervyn Warren
Costume designer: Susan Matheson
Editors: Mark Helfrich, Emma E. Hickox
Cast:
Honey Daniels: Jessica Alba
Chaz: Mekhi Phifer
Benny: Lil' Romeo
Gina: Joy Bryant
Michael Ellis: David Moscow
Mrs. Daniels: Lonette McKee
Raymond: Zachary Isaiah Williams
Katrina: Laurie Ann Gibson
As themselves: Missy Elliott, Jadakiss & Sheek, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Harmonica Sunbeam, Rodney Jerkins, Silkk, 3rd Storee, Tweet
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13>Emma: Dina Waters
Michael: Marc John Jefferies
Megan: Aree Davis
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 12/16/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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