17 years ago, Belgian Koen Mortier made a big splash with his debut film Ex Drummer. His cynical study was a scandalous film full of taboo-breaking, disturbing and shocking. Now Mortier is back with a new film on social abyss back: skunk.
Skunk uses striking images to ask the question “Why?”
Skunk begins with the sentence “Every child has a story to tell”at the end the information “based on true stories”In between there is an impressive film experience that gets under your skin as a social drama and social commentary.
Skunk centers on Liam (Thibaud Dooms), a neglected teenager from precarious circumstancesAt 17, he is neither a child nor an adult. With his short hair, he looks unimaginably young and lost in some scenes, while other appearances make him seem suddenly mature and dangerous in the next moment. It is the age at which young people can still be influenced, but at the same time they easily cross the line by overdoing things without thinking about the consequences.
At the end of Skunk, an escalation of violence awaits and, as so often, the big question of “why?” is in the air. How could it have come to this? At the beginning of the film, a burnt-out ruin foreshadows the disaster that will happen later, before police officers take a blood-stained Liam away. Skunk tries to present itself as a sober observation of a Derivation of what no one can pronounce.
Skunk delivers a drastic up and down of moods
In Skunk, we get to know Liam’s family mainly through flashbacks and unexpected visits. His drug-addicted mother sabotages the parent-teacher meeting at school, and his father uses his fists on more than just the football field. The teenager spends most of the film in his home, where serious efforts are made to Social workers try to save “difficult teenagers” and bring them back on the right path.
The boys there all have traumas in their luggage. Nevertheless, the methods of the motherly Pauline (Natali Broods), the fatherly Jos (Dirk Roofthooft) and the chummy David (Boris Van Severen) always seem to work, and Liam also likes the horse therapy. After a trip together, the tickling and giggling in the bus is like a sigh of relief. Only to be confronted with a suicide attempt in the next scene. emotionally devastating to the ground of reality to return.
Even if the staff at the reformatory honestly want to help, the place remains a difficult environment. After all, the young residents are just as broken souls as Liam, which only burdens the teenager with further challenges. Be it in the repeated clashes with his rival Momo (Soufian Farih), who acts up in the home and soon demands more than just seats. Or be it in dealing with Johan (Flo Pauwels), who could be a loyal friend, but opens up disturbing depths with his fantasies of lit kittens.
The rollercoaster ride of mood swings that the audience takes through the Alternation of hope and crash convincingly reflects the chaotic emotional state of the protagonist. The fact that Skunk repeatedly jumps through time in a narrative also illustrates how his memories and experiences affect the present of his attempt to improve.
Skunk goes to the pain threshold of the cinematic experience
When Koen Mortier takes us into the extremes of Liam’s everyday life, he occasionally goes too far with sex orgies witnessed at home and emotionally freaked-out mothers. But for the most part, Skunk sticks to the motto of realism rather than exaggeration and thus develops its pull, which takes the film to the limit of pain. And to the final escalation, the announcement of which you only see coming in retrospect.
In the end, Skunk does not fully “explain” what influences drive Liam to his actions. And that is a good thing, because even a film cannot and should not look completely into a person in order to break him down to his influences and triggers. Many factors contribute to the finale and not everything can be deduced psychologically. The social drama instead chooses the more complex path, rather to experience than explain. And with success: As a difficult-to-digest and therefore very worthwhile film experience of a dramatic childhood story, Skunk cuts deep.
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How and where you can watch Skunk:
Pre-sales have already started: Skunk will be shown at the Fantasy Filmfest in September 2024: today, September 5, 2024, first in Berlin; then on September 15 in Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Hamburg and on September 20 in Frankfurt and Cologne.
Skunk has not yet had a German release in cinemas, home cinemas or streaming.