Skin Deep

This is genuinely one of the best short films I've seen: taut, with spot-on performances and a great script. All credit to Yousaf Ali Khan, who judges the pace and tone perfectly, and to David Katznelson's dark and moody photography.

This is one of the most powerful shorts in years dealing with racism and prejudice. Romo is a young man who is half-white, half-Pakistani who can pass as white and tries to. Why would he not with neo-nazi youths and the National Front spreading hatred everywhere in his neighborhood? When we see that his work mates are all skinheads and racists we can forgive him but when his mates encounter another Pakistani late at night and a violent hate crime is only stopped in the nick of time, his self loathing takes a rather more self destructive turn.

Romo is a mixed race kid (half Pakistani and half white), but he lives on an all white housing estate. He starts work as an engineer and finds he can pass himself off as white. However when he falls in with a group of NF guys he gets involved in an attack on another Asian youth and is forced to confront himself with emotional results

If films confront racist issues they are usually toasted as being brave or something like that. However this deserves even more praise for looking at racial-self-loathing in no uncertain terms. The plot follows Romo as he tries to integrate himself into the white world around him. This is done well as, at the start, we understand him and almost accept his decision. However we learn how deeply this affects him at almost the same time as he does himself.

The film is violent and has lots of swearing throughout but is all the more powerful for it's realism. It isn't a comfortable watch and the ending is difficult but brave. It almost is a bit OTT and student-film-like but manages to be powerful rather than silly.

Sheppard is excellent in the range he has to deliver on. The rest of the cast are good as well but only really have to do characters where Sheppard must deliver in so many areas. The final scene is delivered with such force and realism that he totally makes the scene.

Overall this isn't fun to watch and many will find the language alone enough to put them off. However it is an interesting subject that is handled intelligently and with force. Well worth a watch with an open mind to another person's experience in a place that many of us will know in a different light.

Youasf Ali Khan has produced a taught, painful insight into the psyche of a damaged Asian youth with courage and finesse. Tackling subject matter emotive as racial self loathing is brave enough, but Khan pushes the excellent cast to deliver powerful, disturbing performances. Darren Sheppard is superb as central character, Romo. Torn between his Pakistani heritage and surviving amongst racist surroundings, Romo is forced into terrible choices. Fear, guilt and hatred mix to tremendous effect in Sheppards performance as he waivers between victim and aggressor. The supporting cast are tremendous. Scarlett Liebenhals as Romo's young sister is a gem. George Russo and his band of skinheads are nasty, gnarly and frighteningly believable. Romo's alienation and misplaced allegiance is explored with candour, David Katznelson's photography adding a heightened quality to the already charged atmosphere. Largely shot in the shadow of London tower blocks, the streets are mean, but nothing compared to the broodiness of Rollo's workplace. A crux scene affords us a frightening glimpse at the social life of the BNP, a London club another triumph of bravura performance and design. Excellent period realization by Eve Stewart brings a gritty vitality that spits at you from the screen. From the troubling opening to the chilling conclusion Skin Deep will sicken and surprise you, remaining provocative to the last frame. Don't miss it.