MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a three-hander that broaches big themes, but doesn’t transcend dry academia
Skin-deep significance
MARIA DUARTE recommends a hard-hitting film on how a white supremacist sees the error of his ways
DAN GLAZEBROOK eavesdrops on the bourgeois intelligentsia and the stories it tells itself at this moment of crisis
JAN WOOLF is bowled over by a major retrospective for the YBA artist
LEO BOIX, ANGUS REID and MARIA DUARTE review Night Stage, Two Women, Kim Novak’s Vertigo, and Fuze
KATHRYN JOHNSON recommends the work of Norman Kaplan that was a tool in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa
GAVIN O’TOOLE welcomes a bold feminist subversion of classic folktales that are ubiquitous in the Irish imagination
Skin (15)
Directed by Guy Nattiv
THIS powerful debut feature by Guy Nattiv is inspired by the real-life story of how Bryon Widner, a former American neonazi racist skinhead, transforms his life by turning his back on hatred and violence.
The film-maker reportedly spent some five years unsuccessfully trying to finance his film but then Donald Trump was elected president and Charlottesville happened — both giving legitimacy and a rising voice to white supremacists.
An almost unrecognisable Jamie Bell gives a stellar and disturbing performance as the tattooed Widner. Raised by racist skinheads, he’s saved by the love of his wife and family and black activist Daryle Jenkins (Mike Colter).
Similar stories
ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review The Ceremony, Eddington, The Life of Chuck, and The Thursday Murder Club
MARIA DUARTE recommends the creepy thrills of David Cronenburg’s provocative and macabre exploration of grief
MARIA DUARTE recommends the powerful dramatisation of the true story of a husband and wife made homeless
MARIA DUARTE recommends a tough love story that unfolds among mental health issues, drug addiction and inadequate housing