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| Childhood is just a series of nightmares in Philip Ridley's The Reflecting Skin (1990) |
I think I'm running out of superlatives for all the "gorgeous," "beautiful," "stunning," and "visually breathtaking" films that I've seen at the 2015 Fantasia Film Festival, but Philip Ridley's
The Reflecting Skin (1990), recently remastered, may be the most mind-blowingly dazzling film I've seen, or will see, at this festival--and it's 25 years old. Having only seen the film on VHS and on a crummy DVD print, I knew that I loved the film, but had never really seen it as I should. Well, as I said. MIND BLOWN. Concordia Hall was only half filled at the screening, and all I could think is that it should have been sold out. But no, that privilege is reserved for stuff like
Cop Car and
Cooties. Whatever. This film is fu**ing awesome, and I'm just irritated that more people have not discovered this film.
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| Seth (Jeremy Cooper) wanders through the wheat fields for most of the film |
The film follows young Seth Pope (Jeremy Cooper) as a 9-year old struggling to grow up in the isolated Prairies of 1950's Idaho. He is under the thumb of his violent and abusive mother, Ruth (Sheila Moore) and his timid, closeted queer father, Luke (Duncan Fraser). Mrs. Dove hates her life, despises the reek of gasoline that permeates her husband's clothes and the curtains, and focuses all her love and energy on her son Cameron (Viggo Mortensen), who happens to be setting off nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific. Unsurprisingly, she does not direct any of this longing affection toward her husband or other son. Her rapacious frustration finds them easy targets for her rage. The rest of the townsfolk seem equally ruled by a mix of religious dogma and disappointment.
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| Suspicious men arrive in their shiny black car |
When a bunch of sinister young thugs drive up in a shiny black car to get gas from the Dove's pumps, things start to spiral downhill in an absolutely chilling fashion. A suicide by immolation, the kidnapping and sexual interference of some local young boys, a fossilized fetus, and some particularly sadistic law enforcement all add to the air of unfolding menace that creeps through the film.
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| The widow Dolphin Blue (Lindsay Duncan) is the victim of an exploding frog |
Amidst all this strange and sudden drama, Seth must contend with his simultaneous fear and fascination of the widow who lives next door, Dolphin Blue (Lindsay Duncan). While she's mostly the victim of Seth's unfortunate childhood pranks, he begins to believe (with the help of his father's pulp fiction) that Ms. Blue is actually a vampire, who drinks blood in order to stay young, hates sunlight, and may be feeding on the local youth. Because the film is told explicitly through the eyes of an impressionable nine-year old boy, viewers can see the logic of some of his more hare-brained ideas. Likewise, Seth's fear and despair are quite palpable--a testament to Cooper's performance and the film's powerfully intimate pull.
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| Viggo Mortensen as returning veteran Cameron Pope |
Once Cameron finally arrives home, and falls for the local widow, spectators are torn between wanting this couple to find some semblance of happiness in this bleak place, and identifying strongly with Seth's childish jealousies regarding his brother's affection and attention. And if you're a Viggo Mortensen fan
(The Lord of the Rings series), he is both understated and deeply sexy in this film. The love scene between Cameron and the widow is very erotic, and surprise, he's the only one who gets fully undressed. Alas, since Cam has been making snowballs from nuclear ash, he's losing weight, his hair, and has bleeding gums. For Seth, all signs point to Dolphin's vampiric influence.
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| Cam and Seth against a bleak but beautiful backdrop |
One's heart breaks for Seth at film's end. He starts off as a bit of a little sh**, but we soon see how the world is stacked against him. Once Seth finally gets to pour out his rage and despair (since he's eerily stoic throughout), spectators are right beside him, feeling every moment of his bottled up pain. Thank you, Fantasia, for screening this remastered gem. This film should be a well-regarded classic. See it soon, see it often.
