FILMS/
CAN GO THROUGH SKIN
Kan door huid heen
New Directors
Netherlands, 2008, 94 minutes
SHOWTIMES
Sat, May 2 / 4:15 / Kabuki / CANG02K
Mon, May 4 / 9:30 / Kabuki / CANG04K
Wed, May 6 / 4:30 / Kabuki / CANG06K
CREDITS
- dir
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Esther Rots
- prod
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Trent, Hugo Rots, Esther Rots
- scr
-
Esther Rots
- cam
-
Lennert Hillege
- editor
-
Esther Rots
- mus
-
Dan Geesin
- cast
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Rifka Lodeizen, Wim Opbrouck, Tina de Bruin
- source
-
Films Boutique, Lübbener Strasse 19, 10997 Berlin, Germany. EMAIL: charlotterenaut@gmail.com.
-
CAUSES
Women's Issues
Life hangs by a very fine thread. Marieke, a young Dutch woman, is shattered by a random act of violence in Amsterdam. She moves to a decrepit shack in the country with unclear hopes of finding peace, but what she finds is quite different. The first feature from director Esther Rots (who also wrote and edited) creates a haunting world of dread and isolation that slowly is dissipated by intimations of light and hope as the film progresses and the seasons change. In a hypnotic performance, actress Rifka Lodeizen commands virtually every scene as we witness her mental disintegration mirrored by her decaying surroundings. As she plans her revenge with a cryptic online confidante it becomes unclear as to what is real and what might be hallucinated. An unlikely friendship with a local farmer slowly begins to open her up and alleviate her loneliness and grief. The technical brilliance of this film is manifest in the soaring, complex sound design, ranging from swirling abstract tones to plaintive female voice and piano, and the extraordinary cinematography, which captures every detail of the beautiful rural Dutch landscape and gritty dark urban spaces with exquisite finesse. Exploring what happens when one’s basic sense of safety is ripped away by an irrational act, Can Go Through Skin is a promising and stimulating debut from a gifted filmmaker.
—Joel Shepard
New Directors Prize Contender. West Coast Premiere.
