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A few nights ago I saw Duncan Roy’s AKA which is a no-budget 35mm feature that tells the story of Dean Page, who manages to jump above his station. Through a series of coincidences and good luck he gradually becomes someone else. The innovative part of the film is that it is presented in three screens, each of which featuring a slightly different perspective. It’s a compelling portrayal with the different screens featuring sometimes different takes, and other times the same images. While it may seem to be technique for technique’s sake, it works very well, and I’m not sure if it would work that well on video, since the level of detail wouldn’t be the same.
At times it reminded me of Midnight Cowboy, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Abel Gance’s Napoleon, which split the screen into a triptych. AKA is not what I expected and I enjoyed it.