American Skin (film)

American Skin is an American drama film written and directed by Nate Parker. It stars Parker, Omari Hardwick, Larry Sullivan, Theo Rossi and Beau Knapp.

American Skin
Directed byNate Parker
Produced by
Written byNate Parker
Starring
Music byHenry Jackman
CinematographyKay Madsen
Edited byBilly Weber
Production
companies
  • Tiny Giant Entertainment
  • Sterling Light Productions
Release date
  • September 1, 2019 (2019-09-01) (Venice)
Running time
89 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 1, 2019.

Premise

Lincoln Jefferson, a U.S. Marine veteran who works as a janitor at a prestigious junior high school, attempts to mend his relationship with his son after a divorce. One night, during a routine police traffic stop, the boy is shot and killed in front of Jefferson. After the officer is cleared of wrongdoing without having to face trial, Jefferson is forced to take matters into his own hands.

Cast

Release

The world premier of American Skin was held at the Venice Film Festival on September 1, 2019.[2][3]

Reception

American Skin received negative reviews from film critics. It holds a 14% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 7 reviews, with a weighted average of 2.85/10.[4] On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 23 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[5]

Negative reviews include that of IndieWire's David Ehrlich, describing it "like a cross between Frank Capra and Tommy Wiseau" and stating that the film "is so bad that he deserves to be canceled on artistic grounds alone", rating it with a D grade.[6] Xan Brooks at The Guardian raised the issue surrounding director Nate Parkers previous controversial acquittal of a rape while he was a student at Pennsylvania State University, and found the film to be "clotted, so strident and so thickly cloaked in self-pity that its impassioned story risks becoming worryingly self-serving. This interpretation isn't helped by Parker's decision to cast himself in the leading role of Linc Jefferson, a noble hero driven to breaking point by a miscarriage of justice." [7] Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times also raised the issue of the controversy surrounding the movies of Parker and Polanski being shown at the Venice Film Festival and in his review called American Skin "a clumsy facsimile" of a film.[8] Parker addressed his past rape controversy during a press conference at the Venice Festival, saying that his "response during that time obviously left a lot of people frustrated and angered a lot of people and I apologise to them. I am still learning and growing." [9] Alonso Duralde from The Wrap wrote that "American Skin is a clunky, heavy-handed film that takes a pressing contemporary issue and flattens it under two genres the writer-director seems ill-equipped to handle — the mockumentary and the courtroom drama", adding that "There's certainly an idea for a movie here, but it's one that's undercut at nearly every turn, from the straw-man/mouthpiece arguments Parker's script puts into the mouths of most of the characters (including policemen and convicts alike) to the film's periodic abandonment of the student-footage gimmick".[10]

There was some positive feedback for the film. The Hollywood Reporter reported that American Skin was cheered by the Venice Audience and received a seven-minute standing ovation.[11] Owen Gleiberman of Variety (magazine) praised the film. "It's a good movie: tense, bold, angry, empathetic, provocative, observant, morally engaged," he wrote. "And also, to be honest, a trifle gimmicky. Yet that's tied to its power as a racially charged, socially urgent gut-punch drama." Gleiberman added, "The script - is what I associate with a certain kind of powerful playwriting, as in a drama like 12 Angry Men. The dialogue of is searing, forceful, edge-of-the-brain topical." He calls the film "a testament to Nate Parker's urgency as a filmmaker, and it's a movie that I think a great many people will want to see.".[12] Elisabeth Sereda of the Golden Globe Awards hailed American Skin as "a lesson in race relations in a country with a current government that is not famous for knowing or caring much about this topic." Sereda wrote: "The film is anything but predictable, and its message is far from the usual cliché we hear on the news.".[13] Additionally, on September 7, 2019, American Skin was voted the "Best Film" in the Sconfini Section of the Venice Film Festival, becoming the first American film based on the theme of racial injustice to be awarded the prize.[14]

Accolades
List of awards and nominations
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipients Result Ref.
Venice Film Festival September 7, 2019 Sconfini Section Prize for Best Film Nate Parker Won [15]
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References
  1. "American Skin". Venice Film Festival. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  2. Tartaglione, Nancy (August 7, 2019). "Nate Parker's 'American Skin' To World Premiere At Venice Film Festival". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  3. Sharf, Zack (August 7, 2019). "Nate Parker to Premiere 'Birth of a Nation' Follow-Up at Venice, Spike Lee Hails Film as 'Tour de Force'". IndieWire. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  4. Rotten Tomatoes, 2020 Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  5. "The Final Girls Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  6. Ehrlich, David (September 1, 2019). "'American Skin' Review: Nate Parker's Terrible Comeback is Like a Cross between Frank Capra and Tommy Wiseau." IndieWire. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  7. Brooks, Xan (1 September 2019). "American Skin review: Nate Parker is noble victim in compromised comeback". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  8. Chang, Justin (3 September 2019). "Roman Polanski and Nate Parker both have movies at the Venice Film Festival. Only one is worth seeing". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  9. Macnab, Geoffrey. "Emotional Nate Parker addresses rape controversy, talks future career plans". Screen. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  10. Duralde, Alonso (September 1, 2019). "'American Skin' Film Review: Nate Parker's Disappointing Sophomore Effort Mixes Mockumentary and Courtroom Drama." The Wrap. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  11. Roxborough, Scott (September 1, 2019). "Venice Audience Cheers Nate Parker's 'American Skin'." The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  12. Gleiberman, Owen (September 1, 2019). "Venice Film Review: Nate Parker’s 'American Skin'." Variety. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  13. Sereda, Elisabeth (September 4, 2019). "Nate Parker on American Skin." GoldenGlobes.com. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  14. Fleming, Mike (September 7, 2019). "Nate Parker's 'American Skin' Wins Venice Sconfini Section Best Film Prize." Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  15. Fleming Jr, Mike (September 7, 2019). "Nate Parker's 'American Skin' Wins Venice Sconfini Section Best Film Prize". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
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