Lynn Hershman Leeson’s first feature was Conceiving Ada, starring Tilda Swinton in a cyber-tinted role. The cyber-Swinton connection has now been multiplied in Teknolust, with Swinton playing four roles, a biogeneticist, and three clones (or “self-replicating automatons”) that thrive on sperm injections they receive from the one automaton that goes out to collect it the old fashioned way.
Shot on digital video with a narrative straight from something you might see on late night cable, Teknolust is light sci-fi puffery made even more unpalatable by its flat video sheen. I’d rather sit through a screening of a beat-up print of Liquid Sky, again, over this turkey. However, I should hasten to add that I might represent the minority. I viewed most of my films in small screening rooms put aside solely for the press and, of over 20 films screened in such rooms, this was the only one that got an ovation from the people in attendance. The press. What can I say? We’re a crazy bunch.