Skin (2018) Reviews

• parental influence

  ferguson-62019-01-25

  Greetings again from the darkness. Bestowed with an Oscar nomination for Best Live Action Short Film, this story from Israeli director Guy Nattiv, who co-wrote the script with Sharon Maymon, is stunning and frightening in how much of a punch it packs into 19 minutes. The influence parents have on their kids is at the heart of this devastating tale. Jackson Robert Scott (Georgie from IT) stars as Troy, the young son of Jeffrey (Jonathan Tucker, "Justified") and Christa (Danielle Macdonald, PATTI CAKE$). The film opens with dad Jeffrey taking the shears to Troy's hair on the front porch. Then all 3 hop in the car with friends, singing a horribly inappropriate song on the way to shooting guns at beer bottles. Later, Troy convinces his dad to take him "surfing". Of course, there are no waves in sight ... you just have to see it to believe it. Two things are abundantly clear: these are stereotypical hillbillies, and Troy loves his dad very much. Soon we learn something else. Dad is a white supremacist. While at the grocery store, a black man (Ashley Thomas) offers a friendly greeting to Troy, and dad snaps into vile racist mode. Seemingly out of nowhere, Jeffrey's fellow gang of racists join him in violently pummeling the friendly black man. The vicious beating takes place in front of the man's frantic wife, daughter and son (roughly the same age as Troy). It's a family that mirrors Troy's, with one exception - skin color. It's not long before a group of African-Americans take revenge on Jeffrey, albeit in a less violent, yet more permanent and clever manner. Bronny (Lonny Chavis, "This is Us") is allowed to watch as the revenge plays out. The tables have been turned on Jeffrey, and the shocking ending proves that hate only leads to more hate ... and sometimes hate is blind. Racism is a self-perpetuating culture that survives only when passed from one generation to the next. Filmmaker Nattiv and his producing partner-wife Jaime Ray Newman remind us that we reap what we sow. They have a feature length film being released later this year based on the true story of Bryon Widner - a story that likely influenced this impactful short.

• Fantastic Film

  daniel-361-6302972019-03-04

  When I finished Skin I could not help remembering a phrase by Mario Puzo at the end of The Last Don that says: "Oh, what a wicked world it is that drives a man to sin." And Guy Nattiv achieve with this work is to show us the cruelty of the world through the eyes of a child, a child who is loved by his parents and who has the appreciation of his neighbors and despite all this love he has living in the more brutal violence, learning from the example, absorbing the lessons that it would be better to avoid because the consequences can be harsh. Nattiv gets a stark story that shows that a nonsense act can lead to merciless punishment. Brilliant as a film, painful as a reflection of a world that is leading many to sin.

• Not to be confused with the director's OTHER film called "Skin".

  MartinHafer2019-02-17

  Today I went to the annual showing of the Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts. I've gone to these showings for at least a decade and must admit that this year's batch was the most god-awful films....all of them very depressing and a few so depressing that I left the theater wanting to shoot myself!! I should point out that Guy Nattiv has TWO films called "Skin" and both of which came out in 2018!! Despite some reports that this film is a shortened version of the other, it is NOT....and both are entirely separate stories. Some news sources have inaccurately reported that they are essentially the same. As far as the films went, I found myself very disturbed by the audience's reaction to "Skin". While I did not consider the film to be a comedy (especially since it is based on a similar story that turns out to be true!), many in the audience today laughed at the ironic ending. To me, this is very disturbing. Sure, the man who died at the end was scum, but it still was death....and laughing at it because he was a reprehensible racist seemed pretty sad to me. The story is tough to watch...very tough. The family shown in the film is sick and easy to hate. While the parents obviously love their child, they also are avowed white supremacist nuts who live for hate and guns and violence. Not surprisingly, the father eventually ends up nearly beating an innocent black man to death. He and his friends beat the man unmercifully...and it is VERY hard to watch. Likewise, when he gets what he's earned at the end of the film, it is STILL hard to watch. My advice is that if you've been a crime victim, think twice about watching the movie....it's ROUGH. So is it any good? Yes. Even with the film apparently making the audience LIKE seeing a horrible racist horribly killed, I must admit that it was well made. And, I appreciate the acting....it's got to be tough to play people that horrible and hate-filled. But of the five films, I also consider it among the weakest. I've heard that much of the Oscar buzz is about this short....I just cannot see it. Well made....but I have seen many, many shorts more deserving of this top honor.

• Damn

  flwerpwered2019-03-09

  Watched once but don't think I could watch again. Just sitting here stunned like what the hell?

• Best Live Action Short Film i've Seen Till Date

  Marwan-Bob2019-02-21

  I Don't Know About all Ya But i Freaking' Loved it. Not Only Deserves the Oscar Nomination ....it Deserve to Win