The Reflecting Skin

1991 "Sometimes terrible things happen quite naturally."
6.7| 1h35m| R| en
Details

A young boy tries to cope with rural life circa 1950s and his fantasies become a way to interpret events. After his father tells him stories of vampires, he becomes convinced that the widow up the road is a vampire, and tries to find ways of discouraging his brother from seeing her.

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Also starring Jeremy Cooper

Reviews

Interesteg What makes it different from others?
SunnyHello Nice effects though.
KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Michael Ledo I admit. I missed it. There is clearly some sort of metaphor and symbolism at work. The semi-surreal background kept he thinking about what is really happening. Seth Dove(Jeremy Cooper)is a young boy with a wild imagination growing up on a farm in Idaho. He believes the widow (Lindsay Duncan) next door is a vampire. His name oozes with symbolism, but I missed it. I suppose the symbolism involves the title, "The Reflecting Skin" which is mentioned late in the film.His brother Cameron (Viggo Mortensen) shows up from watching a-bomb tests and falls in love with the woman whose dead husband's name was Adam. More of the metaphor? Adam's first wife was supposed to have been a succubus according to lore. There is diverse religious discussions among the kids involving angels. The black Cadillac??? Was that the grim reaper?At times I felt I was going to watch another "Sailor Who Fell From Grace From the Sea" combined with "Summer of '42" combined with "Pan's Labyrinth". Sheila Moore, as the mom reminded me of the moms I grew up with before Valium. The movie had been fascinated and interested the whole time. If I had caught the symbolism, I would have perhaps gone 5 stars.Parental Guide: No f-bombs, adult themes. Male rear nudity (Viggo) and B&W photo. I obtained this film on a horror film 8-pack at Walmart, although this is not really a horror film.
realitymatrix001 The acting, the dialog, the music, the scenery, the cinematography, the premise, the plot. Did I miss anything? This is a film that does EVERYTHING right. What's more is it never confirms to the viewer that vampires are involved, beyond the poeticism of plot dramatization. The beautiful thing about this film is that everything in it can and does happen in the real world, but because of the music, acting and cinematography and general mood, all these elements combine to make the film seem other worldly in its beauty. This is just masterful perfection in filmmaking. There are precious few films on this level of sophistication. And as such it never had much of an audience in America, owing to this sophistication. Simply put, this is an artistic drama film about a family in rural America (Around the time of wwII) who are seeing reality disappear from beneath them. The writer cleverly uses vampires as a dramatic impetus to express the characters and their unfolding distress about their personal lives and the world they co-inhabit in their Alienated positions in life. The true darkness herein is a reality we read about all the time in the news. And this portion of the story directly effects the dove family and particularly the love shared between Cameron and Dolphin. I give this film the highest rating possible for not caring about the conventions of normal filmmaking and in doing so being able to tell an emotionally pure story that comes straight from the heart. Additionally the people you see, their peculiar characteristics and such, are people you could actually meet out in the world, which gives it an extra flare of inspiration to the viewer for just wanting to go out and live life in all its beautiful and unexpected strangeness.
John MERZETTI What unadulterated, self-indulgent crap! The acting was simply awful! :( Boy, I wish I could get those precious hours back! I guess the one consolation is that I watched it on Encore Avenue and didn't waste any money renting it.I would like to leave the review at that, but I must write at least ten lines, so here goes.It is a good thing for Viggo Mortensen that he has done some fantastic work since then, or he might have gone the way of Philip Michael Thomas.I generally don't watch movies that show fewer than three stars in the description on my digital guide; this one had no stars, but I simply thought that an oversight. Next time, I'll know what an absence af stars means.
HumanoidOfFlesh "The Reflecting Skin" is among the most beautiful and elegiac movies I have ever seen.It's dark and depressing film which takes place during 50's.Philip Ridley's full-length debut features many memorable moments for example frog exploding in a torrent of blood and guts,a couple of chirping ladies walking close to Seth and carrying a dead seagull,a gruesome suicide that ended with a burning gas station and the discovery of the mummified baby in the barn.The water plays the major theme in "The Reflecting Skin".The film is extremely poetic with its bleak subject matter of loneliness and mourn.The cinematography of Dick Pope is breathtaking with some moody shots of the fields,rolling hills and big skies.Dreamy and strangely hypnotic "The Reflecting Skin" is an unforgettable trip into sadness and melancholy.9 out of 10.