Skin and Bone

Rating:
Summary: A Flaccid Thriller
Review: A Flaccid Thriller

This is a movie that is completely undone by its ending.

"Skin & Bone" falls into the "hustler life" subcategory of queer movies. The central character is Harry (B. Wyatt), an aspiring actor who hustles for a living, treating each job as a chance to hone his acting abilities. He works for Ghislaine (Nicole Dillenberg) and is assigned the task of helping train the newest member of her stable, Dean (Alan Boyce). Harry and Dean turn tricks with both women and men. It's all a matter of economics for them, although Dean is still new enough to the business that he still gets off getting off with his female clients.

Writer/director Everett Lewis uses unconventional structure and technique to tell his story, and the filmmaking is interesting. When the script is focusing on the dehumanizing elements of their lives and the profession of selling their bodies, it is interesting and the acting is professional, if not terribly exciting. Unfortunately, Lewis's script takes a turn into the melodramatic (a common element in the "hustler life" genre), and the last act of the movie fails because of it. I found the ending, intended to be tragic, to be completely unbelievable--relying on a character to be such a complete idiot that he didn't realize what was happening.

I would strongly suggest that you rent this movie before you consider buying it. If the "hustler life" genre appeals to you, then you might want to check out "johns" and much more interesting (if for location and culture alone) "Mandragora", although I don't strongly recommend either. "L.I.E." (not yet released on video or DVD) is better than these three titles, but it is not without its own flaws. If you want to see a really taut thriller about life on the streets, although not a queer film, then I would definitely recommend "Where the Day Takes You."

.....

Rating:
Summary: A Flaccid Thriller
Review: A Flaccid Thriller

This is a movie that is completely undone by its ending.

"Skin & Bone" falls into the "hustler life" subcategory of queer movies. The central character is Harry (B. Wyatt), an aspiring actor who hustles for a living, treating each job as a chance to hone his acting abilities. He works for Ghislaine (Nicole Dillenberg) and is assigned the task of helping train the newest member of her stable, Dean (Alan Boyce). Harry and Dean turn tricks with both women and men. It's all a matter of economics for them, although Dean is still new enough to the business that he still gets off getting off with his female clients.

Writer/director Everett Lewis uses unconventional structure and technique to tell his story, and the filmmaking is interesting. When the script is focusing on the dehumanizing elements of their lives and the profession of selling their bodies, it is interesting and the acting is professional, if not terribly exciting. Unfortunately, Lewis's script takes a turn into the melodramatic (a common element in the "hustler life" genre), and the last act of the movie fails because of it. I found the ending, intended to be tragic, to be completely unbelievable--relying on a character to be such a complete idiot that he didn't realize what was happening.

I would strongly suggest that you rent this movie before you consider buying it. If the "hustler life" genre appeals to you, then you might want to check out "johns" and much more interesting (if for location and culture alone) "Mandragora", although I don't strongly recommend either. "L.I.E." (not yet released on video or DVD) is better than these three titles, but it is not without its own flaws. If you want to see a really taut thriller about life on the streets, although not a queer film, then I would definitely recommend "Where the Day Takes You."

.....

Rating:
Summary: Dark and a bit unsettling
Review: Set in Los Angeles, amid that city's arid strip malls, newsstands, and endless dusty streets, Skin and Bone prowls through the dark world of a trio of rent boys controlled by a mysterious madam named Ghislaine (Nicole Dillenberg). Harry (b. Wyatt) is an ambitious hunk who splits his time between tricking and trying to make it as a movie star. Handsome Dean (Alan Boyce) is younger and more naïve and falls into whoredom through a kind of pathetic disengagement with life that saturates this world and its denizens. A clueless pal of Harry's, Billy (Garrett Scullin), gets sucked into the life with disastrous results.

Certainly not for everyone, its dark and bleak, I found it captivating and intriguing. With the use of different camera effects, infectious dialogue, and a good cast of characters it has become one of my favorites. A psycho-sexual drama that's sure to please!

Rating:
Summary: A Bit of Both
Review: While I agree with Joe Edkin's comments regarding theinteresting compositional technics of SKIN AND BONE, I concur overall with the judgments of "a visitor," from Nyack, N.J.

The film is a mix of "styles" ranging from the Andy Warholschool of "Oh, My God! I Can't Believe How Wretched This Film Is!" to moments evoking both "pity and horror," the yardstick by which all Attic tragedy is measured.

While Mr. Edkin places SKIN AND BONE in the "genre" of hustler
films and proceeds to name his chosen few, I am, as yet, unaware
there exists such a genre. A handful of films upon a common ground do not a genre make. A film, like a play, is "grounded" upon stakes for the central characters, as Mr. Edkin states. But stakes do not a "theme" make. What "drives" a character, his stake, whether in film or stage play, is borne out of the aggragate of his autobiography.

It would be nearly impossible for any film or play to begin at the "beginning." A plot will usually begin "in media res" (in the middle) and work toward a denouement with backward glances as required for an understanding of "how" a character's life became "staked" and entangled in the lives of the other characters.

SKIN AND BONE needs to be watched more than once in order that the subtleties (and there *are* subtleties) of the film become apparent. You will, I warrant, find the existential dimension of the two leading characters' lives as alluded to by "a viewer" to represent, overall, the more reliable and *intuitive* of the the two postings.

SKIN AND BONES holds a place in my dvd collection along side LILIES, WILD REEDS, LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! and GODS AND MONSTERS.

Sterling company.

Rating:
Summary: A Bit of Both
Review: While I agree with Joe Edkin's comments regarding theinteresting compositional technics of SKIN AND BONE, I concur overall with the judgments of "a visitor," from Nyack, N.J.

The film is a mix of "styles" ranging from the Andy Warholschool of "Oh, My God! I Can't Believe How Wretched This Film Is!" to moments evoking both "pity and horror," the yardstick by which all Attic tragedy is measured.

While Mr. Edkin places SKIN AND BONE in the "genre" of hustler
films and proceeds to name his chosen few, I am, as yet, unaware
there exists such a genre. A handful of films upon a common ground do not a genre make. A film, like a play, is "grounded" upon stakes for the central characters, as Mr. Edkin states. But stakes do not a "theme" make. What "drives" a character, his stake, whether in film or stage play, is borne out of the aggragate of his autobiography.

It would be nearly impossible for any film or play to begin at the "beginning." A plot will usually begin "in media res" (in the middle) and work toward a denouement with backward glances as required for an understanding of "how" a character's life became "staked" and entangled in the lives of the other characters.

SKIN AND BONE needs to be watched more than once in order that the subtleties (and there *are* subtleties) of the film become apparent. You will, I warrant, find the existential dimension of the two leading characters' lives as alluded to by "a viewer" to represent, overall, the more reliable and *intuitive* of the the two postings.

SKIN AND BONES holds a place in my dvd collection along side LILIES, WILD REEDS, LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! and GODS AND MONSTERS.

Sterling company.