Teknolust

Sci-fi has rarely been so playful.

A quiet tour de force for Tilda Swinton, who plays researcher Rosetta Stone and her feisty but fragile alter egos.

The film's shortcomings notwithstanding, it's a must-see for Swinton fans, who can select a favorite among four different variations of their idol or simply adore them all.

While it's stylishly designed and shot in startling colors on digital high-definition cameras, this feels like yesterday's futuristic news, and it's more likely to surface as a video/DVD curiosity than a theatrical draw.

It's muddled and shallow and obvious. Worse, it fails as entertainment, being so ineptly directed and written it often has the feel of a high school production by kids with more money and ambition than talent.

The results might make for some swell production stills, but as a motion picture, Teknolust never really makes it alive out of Hershman's head.

If you've got the opportunity to have someone as talented and game for anything as Swinton, you really owe it to her to give her a real movie to be in.