By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Lynn Hershmon-Lessman
Starring: James Urbaniak | Jeremy Davies | Karen Black | Thomas Jay Ryan | Tilda Swinton
Country: united_states
Year: 2003
Running time: 85
IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0251160
Michael says: “What better way to finish off the terrific movie weekend at the Boston International Festival of Women’s Cinema than a science fiction fling with the incomparable Tilda Swinton playing geeky scientist Rosetta Stone, and her three clones, Ruby, Marine and Olive. Lynn Hershman Leeson’s film starts off with a slightly menacing air, and the possibilities of technology, cloning technology particularly, gone awry, but in fact, this sweet film is about love, and letting yourself be everything you can.
“Rosetta Stone has secretly cloned herself three time. Her SRA’s (Self Replicating Automotons) each sport a different personality. Only Ruby is allowed out of Stone’s home, and her mission is to harvest sperm from men… the DNA of which keeps the SRA’s alive. Ruby learns her seduction tricks from movies that are downloaded into her memory. The problem is the men she has sex with later develop a strange rash on their foreheads that include a barcode number. They also become impotent. As the investigation into the plight of these men reaches the FBI, Stone finds herself in a difficult situation. As her clones become more and more independent, that situation gets dangerous.
“Swinton is a marvel. She’s the main reason to see this film. As Rosetta Stone, she sheds her usual cool demeanor to play the consummate brilliant, techno geek. Watching her clones perform a dance routine for Rosetta has got to be seen to be believed. Another high point is watching Ruby get her first taste of the ‘succulent protein’ that all humans eat. Karen Black makes a rare appearance as FBI agent ‘Dirty Dick,’ and Henry Fool alum, James Urbaniak and Thomas Jay Ryan make memorable appearances as well.
“TEKNOLUST is sweet and playful, and marvelously weird. Sure to get some sort of cult following, anyone who enjoys Swinton even a little has got to see this film. I have no idea what kind of release it will get, but here’s hoping it gets one. Swinton deserves a Best Actress nomination again this year.” 3 1/2 cats
Chris says: “I couldn’t make it through Lynn Hershman-Leeson’s stilted first feature, CONCEIVING ADA, which had the terrible misfortune to waste Tilda Swinton. Fortunately, Swinton’s fabulous in this more relaxed, much funnier follow-up as an endearingly mousy scientist and her three self-created genetic clones. With HENRY FOOL-ers James Urbaniak and Thomas Jay Ryan in supporting roles, not to mention such quirkaholics as Karen Black and the increasingly weird Jeremy Davies, this is almost everything I wanted Hal Hartley’s last film to be. Highlights include the indescribable dance routine the clones put on for their creator, and a scene where one of them, the sex-bot Ruby, hilariously tries to ingest what is for her a new kind of ‘succulent protein.’”