Skin and Bone

If I had to call Skin And Bone anything it would be soft core pornography. It has a plot so it's not just titillating male frontal nudity. But the three actors who are called on to play our three protagonists Harry, Billy, and Dean just aren't actors or at least not even B list players.

That the plot is also incoherent so you'll have trouble following the exploits of these finely put together young men. Essentially they are three in different stages of their profession. One's a thorough professional, the other is in denial and the third is just learning the ropes.

Skin And Bone is not one to waste your time with except for reasons or prurient interest.

This was the last film in a trilogy of true, underground movies made by Lewis in the 90's, on almost non-existent budgets. Ever since catching "Natural History of Parking Lots" on the Sundance channel in the mid 90's, I have been fascinated by this guys work, and anxious to see his other films. I was fortunate enough to have taped that broadcast off of Sundance which enabled me to study the film over the years. "Skin & Bones" possesses a lot of similarities to the 1990 film, such as the dark, melodramatic atmosphere, the strangeness of the editing and the actors voices that seem to echo as if they are in a large cave, and of course, it's brilliant use of stark, grainy b&w photography. One of the best, and true to life movies about male hustlers, "Skin & Bone" introduces the three main characters. All of which have very different personalities, but seem to have the same dreams of finding success and becoming someone important. B. Wyatt from "Natural History" as a character very similar to Lance, with his black leather coat and the motorcycle, and the hardened attitude; only here. As Harry, his ambition is different in that he wants to be an actor. He's in Hollywood to do this, and he's serious about it. He's just hustling to pay the bills, and to Harry it's just another acting gig, so to him it's just like rehearsing for the camera. Like any actor, he's capable of separating himself from the parts he is playing, so the job doesn't affect him..at first. But things get stranger and Harry is losing the stomach for hustling, fast. Almost out of the business, his nasty female pimp (an hysterically bad actress), puts him in charge of a young guy, new to the hustling scene. She wants Harry to "train' the kid, and him and Dean become friends. Dean is completely inexperienced and quickly gets chewed up by the scene, and when it happens, of course Harry feels responsible, and sets out to make things right, which turns out to be a tragic mistake. There is a third hustler, Billy, also new to the scene. Billy is not smart. And he gets lost in this dark world as well. And this film is "dark." One of it's strongest qualities is the photography, which captures this seedy, almost dreamlike world, so believably. This one is a lot more pessimistic, and a lot more violent that "Natural History of Parking Lots," and it does contain a surprising level of sexual sadism....beatings, stabbings and shootings, so it's hardly one of these PC, cute and safe "gay films" usually made in North America..in fact it's not specifically a "gay film" at all, but rather a film about sexually promiscuous and screwed up criminals and victims. The ending scene of "Skin & Bone" was especially powerful and sad, as well as disturbingly realistic. Everett Lewis made three very worthy films, this one, "Natural History of Parking Lots," and the lost film "Ambush of Ghosts," which never found a distributor due to it's dark subject matter and lack of mainstream qualities, and a film that I would do anything to see..but it was made between these two underground genre masterpieces, so I can imagine that it must be something very special. "Skin & Bone" is very rare these days, and dvd's have become scarce. I'm sure it must have some kind of cult following, like a lot of other films about hustling, like "Johns" and "My Own Private Idaho..." and it holds up well next to those films..

A very dark film. No glamour is to be seen in this story of Hustlers, not completely aware of their position. Trying to sell themselves as actors, they slowly penetrate in a world of sex and abuse. And what a terrifying world this can turn into. The 'agency' to which the main characters become linked deals with the most sordid of sex desires, depraved sex of sadism and masochism, where clients demand daily more aggressive aspects of sex encounters. Lured with the prospects of getting jobs in the main film industry, the supposed actors complain. I found the actors of the film most effective. Beside the beautiful bodies they keep showing to the camera, they have good acting and let us feel the anguish with it they accept their abusive parts, always believing it will come to a better assignment. In particular, B. Wyatt and Alan Boyce give poignant interpretations, making you feel sorry for them and hoping they can get out of that hell. But little hope is to be expected for those involved in this hard core sadistic industry, where people are little more than meat to be served to the lions.

With its plot implausibilities and excessive violence, this is a film that is much worse than it could be. The characters are obviously able to work on their own, yet continue to work for a manipulative woman who takes a big cut of their earnings and sends them on unpleasant assignments. The ending is especially irritating because of the out-of-character total stupidity needed to resolve the plot.

The plot is far from original and doesn't really make much sense. These hustlers are not teenage boys, they're grown men who in any real life scenario would know better than to let themselves be taken advantage of by a sleazy, soul-less female pimp. Still, there's a certain darkness about this film that makes it bit more watchable than the myriad of others about the gay hustler scene. The director could have taken this story in a thousand different directions, and any of other 999 would have been better than the way this movie ended, if one should even call that an ending. The editing is clumsy, and the acting fails to realistically convey either the desperation or the naiveté of the young hustlers. The main problem I find with this movie is that its denouement is an anticlimax.