Skunk

No pun intended - this feels like a documentary. The way it is shot (handheld and in your face), the story itself ... which is based on real stories ... I assume they took a few of those and made one character out of them. So maybe this didn't all happen to one individual ... but to a few ... that said, I can see how stuff like this happened ... and may still happen.

The young actor (both but the teenage version is or has more screen time) is really amazing in his role ... as is the whole cast. So many things happen - a lot of foreboding and foreshadowing happens too. And yet the movie is able to always kick and punch you out of the blue ... no pun intended with this either.

Not an easy movie at all ... quite the opposite ... violent in many senses and to many senses too. Watch at your own peril.

Saw the preview on Sunday afternoon during Youth Care Day in the Grote Post, as part of the Ostend Film Festival.

Afterwards there was the opportunity to attend a panel discussion about the problems in the sector with, among others, director Koen Mortier and Geert Taghon, author of the book.

In the evening there was an acoustic concert by the Belgian metal band Amenra, which provided the soundtrack for the film.

Frontman Colin Van Eeckhout also plays Liam's father in Skunk.

Mortier previously convinced with the wonderful Ex-Drummer and the equally great 22 Mei.

He goes all out again with Skunk. And how.

The film is harsh, raw and offers little to no room for hope.

The gloomy, melancholic atmosphere contributes to the controversial theme.

Supported by smaller and larger roles, Thibaud Dooms carries the film as a tormented soul (that hopeless look!). Very impressive performance for a first major role.

Amenra's largely instrumental ambient music was carefully chosen.

Although the audiovisual highlight of the film only comes at the very end when Song to the Siren, a cover of This Mortal Coil's version (original song by Tim Buckley) is introduced.

For the second day in a row, Mortier, cast and crew received a more than deserved standing ovation from the audience during the closing credits.

An extra half point, partly thanks to the fantastic and correct ending.

The local theatre gave 1 screening of this movie.

They warned us. There are some strong images.

Not bloody, but the violence is very real.

We see the story of the 17 y old boy who comes from a violent home.

Drug, sex and violence..... The actors who play his parents are doing such a good job. But it couldn't have been easy to do this.

Liam gets placed out of home where apparently youth delinquents and youth victims end up in the same place.

And this gives serious problems. There's also two clans. White and black form clans who compete.

There are only three therapists who need to get these kids straightened out.

You see that Liam has a good side. But life only makes him show the bad side. And he has a way of making sure people avoid him.

The movie perfectly show the complexity of these real situations.

Society is very quick on judging, but everyone needs to see this.

Just to see that nothing is black and white.

WHY do some young people commit crimes ? Because life never gave them chances.

The movie does not jedge.

It does not excuse their behavior.

It shows it as it is.

Thibaud Dooms is SO good.

This is a talent we need to watch in the future.

Just like Ex-Drummer, also by Koen Mortier, this is also a portrait of people who live a violent life. But this movie is so much better.

This movie creaps under the skin. It painfully shows how the system fails the kids who need safety and guidance the most.

Yes, this storyline depicts the most extreme outcome, but sadly every missed opportunity to intervene, every unprofessional but honest attempt to make a difference, fails. The horiffic abuse accumulates in a cinematographic outstanding apotheosis. The cover of Song to the Siren by Amenra lifts this scene to the next level.

This movie makes it painfully clear that some kids are born in such an awful environment and nobody seems to be able to truly stop the horror because it becomes part of the kid. We need to do better as a society.

When you want to make a social commentary, you don't take the most excessive case there is, the story should be widely relatable. Or you should make the relatable elements stronger like, say, in Pearl. I mean, very few people kill their parents like she does, but her story is almost every girl's story: the daughter's role she's forced into, the absolute control over her body and soul, the craving for escape, and the complete lack of capabilities to exist outside of the family, because she's deliberately debilitated, prevented from maturing. The only moment I felt close to Liam's story was when he and his parents gather in this sort of a family portrait: the abusive father, the drugged mother, and the terrified kid clinging to each other in some twisted love embrace. Despite there's always ambivalence in family matters thought it is unlikely that Liam would want to go home like he does, even less so - that he would want to go back to school, where he had to soil his pants to be left alone. By the way, this part definitely had to be shown and not told, especially when you build your whole character's personality on that feature. The violence both at the boy's home and at the institution is out of context. We just see some random scenes and the only conclusions we could make is that some people are animals. Otherwise, the actors playing the mother and the father are pretty great at portraying someone out of control. Now, I don't know what was the idea, but to me the social workers seem useless. They have no authority and are pretty unprofessional too, taking, for example, personal calls during therapy sessions. They are also unfair and make Liam feel like he's in the wrong when he's trying to defend himself. But still, he bonds with them. I just hope that reflects his habit of loving whomever is close and doesn't promote the social workers' behavior as helpful. All in all, a pity, because child abuse is an epidemic and should be exposed with powerful examples, so that people cannot say: oh, here's what they do in third-rate movies. No, that's what you do.