Aka (UK)

In Britain, while the class divide is no longer relevant to most people's lives in terms of access to education or employment, there is still a great fascination with the lives of the rich. The premise of this film set in 1970's sounds so good when you read the summary but how I wish , even the execution was good.

18 year old Dean Page, who is from working class background, loves spending time with his mother listing to the tales of the upper class posh people by his mother based on her experiences with them being a waitress herself. We find out that Dean's father abuses him and soon throws him out of the house. He is picked up by an older gay queen who give shim shelter and clothes. He wants to move on and he visits Lady Gryffoyn, an art gallery proprietress, whom his mother had spoken of. She, for whatever reasons, hires him. She takes liking towards him which leads to his spending time at the Gryffoyn country house while people are away. Lady Gryffoyn's son Alexander subsequently humiliates Dean and he accepts it as his due, but goes off with their credit cards and winds up in Paris. There he impersonates as Lady Gryffoyn's son to get into the higher social circle. He meets a very wealthy man David and his gigolo boyfriend, a boy from Texas named Benjamin. The 3 of them start living together without any sexual favors till the time David stops caring for Benjamin and instead is more interested in Dean Page. Detectives come looking for Dean Page and soon the truth is revealed and Dean is arrested for impersonation and sent to jail.

The film is a bizarre coming of age story in which embracing a gay identity is occasionally considered in rather searching and realistic terms. The guy playing the role of Dean Page just does not suit the part (or maybe its the director's fault). Neither him, nor the situations are not convincing enough for the viewer to believe that Dean Page could actually pull off being an impersonator so easily and with such confidence. The only decent acting was from Benjamin but then none of the characters really get an opportunity to establish themselves. The film kept going in various directions and after I while, I really did not care of what's going on.

I wish this film was more social comedy rather than being a psychodrama. (3/10)