Unskin

I saw this recently at the Apulia WebFest and rarely do I write reviews of shorts but this one grabbed me. The unique narrative style is refreshing and the visuals are cold, dark and punchy. It was in the top 5 best films at the festival, but was also the one that left its imprint on mind.

This short is 360 degrees of refreshment in story and design. It is what good contemporary art should be; unafraid of twisting and turning conventions, literally upside down in the case of a few memorable scenes that really do stick in the mind. I saw the film on Vimeo and I don't want to include any spoilers, but there are 3-4 acts in this film, and each one fits with one another like a puzzle to the mystery around the central protagonist (or antagonist depending on your perspective). There is even a subtle irony of a whodunit in this short, as we try and grapple with the mysterious origin of the hooded figure, as told from the perspective of Roger, a seemingly hapless interviewee played brilliantly by the actor Roger Carvalho. The direction is visionary, the production design is beautiful and the music is atmospheric. I see great things ahead for the team behind this brilliant work. A very distinctive cinematic achievement for a short film, bravo.

There are few short or feature film's you'll see as eccentric as UNSKIN. The fabric of the film occupies both experimental and narrative genres, and like film's of this nature, it is generally very difficult to categorise them or place them in boxes, which is a very good thing depending on your taste in cinema.

I won't get into the big details of the plot, but the story revolves around two figures, the storyteller and the main figure in his story, and the film's interchange of what is reality and what is fiction is both distinct blurred, as is the chronology of the film, which we begin to question at the very end. I thought there was a lot of symbolism and layers to this film, but taken at face value, the story still had a lot to offer in terms of intrigue, suspense and an all pervasive haunting atmosphere, partly thanks to the wonderfully original soundtrack that is pleasantly omnipresent throughout the film.

Just to give you an idea of the unorthodox nature of this film, the dialogue is delivered in a somewhat stilted manner and there are many long scenes where the film is entirely visual, including one particularly interesting scene with a miming musician and two cross-cultural mime dancers on what could be London bridge, which felt very rich in symbolism and motif, yet was not immediately integral to the story arch. All of this means the film never got boring, and my only minor criticism would be that 15 mins is really not long enough for the richness of this story to materialise, though it does very well despite this constraint.

In saying this, I think this short film has a lot of potential for development into a feature if that is what the writer and director wanted to do, as there are a lot of brilliant ideas in there that can be developed further. As it stands it's a very good short film.

I came across this short at the Oaxaca Film Festival in 2019. I felt upon seeing it that it is a really nicely crafted science fiction fantasy story, with an interesting fusion of mythology and social and political themes, hints of German expressionism and the type of surrealism associated with Buñuel and Dalí. There is plenty of mood and style here, unconventional narrative, good cinematography, editing and music. There is definitely a unique feeling of revolution about this film that is particularly admirable in a sea of identikit and play-it-safe filmmaking. I am intrigued to see what the director creates next.

UNSKIN, as a short movie, feels more like a prologue to a much bigger movie, even a trailer. It masterfully unfolds its' plot in a way that I really enjoy as these kind of mystery movies are some of my favorite to watch. It almost felt like a Panos Cosmatos movie, utilizing the "Show, don't tell" technique, which is always a sign of a good storytelling. All the lightning, effects and camera work are superb and psychedelic and shot in a way most directors would cream for. The effort is undeniable, as all the actors are very believable and the story hits home quickly when you think of the "alien visitor" and his role in all this. I really wanted to see the story go on even further, but it didn't have to go anywhere else, as UNSKIN has developed its' message towards the end, forming a beautiful short movie, shot in the most professional manner I have seen for a short film! Congratulations, Crimson Black Productions, you guys have the skills for way more than short films and cannot wait to see more!