Movie Review: SKINAMARINK

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: February 9th, 2023 / 08:17 PM

SKINAMARINK movie poster | ©2023 IFC Midnight/Shudder

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Lucas Paul, Dali Rose Tetreault, Ross Paul, Jaime Hill
Writer: Kyle Edward Ball
Director: Kyle Edward Ball
Distributor: IFC Midnight/Shudder
Release Date: January 13, 2023 (theatrical); February 2, 2023 (Shudder)

Evaluating SKINAMARINK properly probably requires someone far better versed than this reviewer is in experimental cinema, and/or slow cinema.

There is indeed a genre known as slow cinema, which is pretty much what it sounds like. There are static shots; there is repetition; plots are sketchy, if they exist at all. This is intentional, to put the viewer in a state where they can experience the film as a dream. For viewers resistant to this method of interacting with a movie, it’s less dreamlike and more, well, slow.

SKINAMARINK is a horror movie almost by default. We can tell something alarming is happening, and the style is ominous, but it’s not really horror in the conventional sense. In fact, nothing about SKINAMARINK is conventional.

All of the credits, even the thank-yous, are at the start of the film. A title tells us that it’s 1995. We understand that Kevin (Lucas Paul), who is four, and his likewise young sister Kaylee (Dali Rose Tetreault), don’t know where their father has gone. Their mother isn’t around, either. It’s dark, the cartoons in TV flicker in and out. Then doors and windows disappear, and toys start sticking to the walls. Also, there’s a low voice that doesn’t say much, but when they come, the words are scary.

Director/writer Kyle Edward Ball doesn’t often have any people in the frame. When we do see anyone, it’s usually from the back or from mid-calf down. The lighting is low, we keep returning to various rooms and hallways, and when things move, we don’t know if Kevin is propelling them, or if it’s the owner of the voice.

SKINAMARINK | ©2023 IFC Midnight/Shudder

There are some hints of what may be going on, but no definitive answers. Fans of this form of cinema will find plenty to unpack and debate and theorize about here (starting with why it matters that the year is 1995).

Ball has said in at least one interview that SKINAMARINK is meant to resemble childhood nightmares. Here we get into the meta issue of whether everyone has the same recollections of disturbing nocturnal reveries. Does SKINAMARINK resemble disturbing dreams, or simply a four-year-old’s fears? From an admittedly idiosyncratic viewpoint, the movie resembles the latter more than the former, more an adult’s concept of youthful terrors than something that empathizes with a small child.

This aside, it’s hard to criticize SKINAMARINK as an entity, as it appears to accomplish what it sets out to do. Audiences who are looking to really take their time wrestling with an enigma are given ample fodder here. Anyone seeking something with a plot, characters, and/or human faces should go elsewhere.

Follow us on Twitter at ASSIGNMENT X
Like us on Facebook at ASSIGNMENT X

Latest Buzz

Movie Review: SKINAMARINK

Horror via experimental slow cinema

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Movie Review: SKINAMARINK

Related

Related Posts:

Leave a Comment

Assignment X Poll

Newsletter subscription status

Latest Buzz

Movie Review: SKINAMARINK

Horror via experimental slow cinema

Article Source: Assignment X Article: Movie Review: SKINAMARINK

Related

Related Posts:

Leave a Comment

Assignment X Poll

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Movie Review: SKINAMARINK