Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: AMERICAN SKIN [Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]

In the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Derek Chauvin trial and various other recent occurrences, Nate Parker's "American Skin" is an interesting footnote. Having had his own PR and personal problems himself, it is interesting for him to move back into filmmaker mode. This film, which played Venice in 2019, is even more timely now. Spike Lee and one of his financier's (who also financed "Femme Fatale" for Brian De Palma back in the day) helped him realized a film that functions more as a theater piece mixed with a modern version of "12 Angry Men" from a modernist point of view. It again talks about perception of race but from a different angle than "Birth Of A Nation". Like his earlier outing Parker takes a central role as a father whose son is killed in police violence in a traffic stop. The logic is sound and interesting in the fact that Nate's character was a soldier which adds another layer in the idea of training, choice and authority. There is no reference to PTSD but the eventual stand-off that motivates the movie is an interesting mix of courtroom drama within a thriller setting. Parker avoids convention and leaves the outside tension at the door but lets the inside tension simmer. It is there but it is more about the discussions inside. Now while there is the sense of a message piece, he and his team of soldiers behind him have a goal that again (while maybe not realistic in a normal hostage negotiation) plays to a bigger point and again shows the power he can have as a director. The acting is focused but too overwrought. The action is pronounced and necessary. The story beats are effective. The framing mechanism initially seems a little slipshod but as the story unfolds there is a reason for it since in crafting the film , Parker wants to angle it to a view of a very specific character whose ideas lie in two camps. It is an interesting thesis, perhaps too heavy handed for some but despite that, not melodramatic. The film knows what it wants to say and says it but never does it try to stifle an idea of speech, despite wanting to show it from a viewpoint of color and of a father. B

By Tim Wassberg