Gory, glittering and irresistibly bleak, In My Mother’s Skin represents a stylish, grown-up tribute to the folk horror classic. Like his acclaimed debut Ma (2018), Manila-based writer and director Ken Nice Dagatan’s second story revolves around a young man who makes a deal with an evil insectoid forest elf to help her family — with disastrous consequences.
This time, Dagatan and his team added a full stop The story is set in the last days of World War II, before the defeat of the Japanese occupying forces in a rural Philippines manor. Inevitably, the combination of fascist subtext and creepy antiquity is strongly reminiscent of Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth , at least in It seems so to Western audiences. But if you’re going to steal, steal from the best. There’s a lot of fresh, lively and original stuff here. It’s no surprise that worldwide rights were snapped up by Amazon Prime before the film premiered in the midnight section of the Sundance Film Festival.
On my mother’s skin
Bottom line Enough to eat.
Place : Sundance Film Festival (Midnight) Throwing: Felicity Kyle Napuli, Beauty Gonzalez, James Mavie Estrella, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Angeli Bayani, Arnold Reyes, Ronnie Lazaro Director and screenwriter: Kenneth Dagatan 1 hour 2018 minutes
The small cast was primarily filmed in one location, and like many feature films in the COVID era, this The movie takes on a panicky isolation surrounded by menacing darkness that never really relaxes. In an exceedingly gory, if dimly lit pre-title sequence in which a possessed soldier feeds on the blood-soaked corpse and then vomits out a live bird, the plot switches to a once-wealthy family once lived in The mansion is trying to survive the war. The first line of dialogue is almost a question from teenage girl Tara (Felicity Kyle Napuli, excellent): She asks her younger brother Bayani (James Mavie Estrella, also excellent) if he’s ever heard of Japanese soldiers in Manila on the air Then stabbing them with a bayonet for fun definitely sets the tone. A feast, and a considerable temptation in these times of famine. As it turns out, the Japanese and Antonio want to know where the boys’ father, Romualdo (Arno Reyes), is hiding some gold that the Japanese believe is theirs. He insisted he knew nothing about the gold, but shortly after he left, he claimed he had business to deal with to protect his family. He left his sick wife Ligaya (Beauty Gonzalez) and two children in the care of the family’s only remaining servant, Amor (Angeli Bayani).
Ligaya appears to be suffering from an emaciated, unnamed film disease that causes severe coughing and general weakness, requiring her to lie in bed most of the time. Unable to eat anything but sweet potatoes, the children took their father’s guns out the gate and into the forest they had been forbidden to enter, hoping to catch something to eat. Before you can even name Hansel and Gretel, they part ways, and Tala finds a cabin in the woods with creepy stained glass windows, countless black, Junebug-like insects, and a piece painted in bright red. Colorfully wrapped candies, sitting on a table like offerings.
Of course she ate it, of course it was her first mistake. A smiling fairy (Jasmine Curtis-Smith) emerges in a voluminous gown and gold filigree tiara studded with pearls, making her look like a Miss Universe contestant and the Virgin Mary A mix of statues. (A real statue of the Virgin Mary in Tara’s home is often cut away, in case you missed the visual allusion.) The fairy offers to reward Tara’s “innocence” by giving her an insect minion, explaining that when internally applied When in Ligaya, it will cure her ailments.
The rest of the movie is a long demo of how there are always pitfalls. Smart kids should learn their lesson never to trust fairies of any kind or anyone offering free candy, food or healing insects. That said, most kids would be hugely traumatized seeing this movie, in which Tara’s mother ends up being murderous, mad, and chameleon-tongued while the bodies pile up. In fact, one wants steps to be taken to protect child actors themselves from disturbing imagery throughout the process.
While the endless meat-chewing and insect-like clicking sounds become a bit repetitive as we progress to the third act, Dagatan still has a few tricks to offer, including doozy involves the faithful servant Amor. DP Russell Morton’s pitch-black cinematography is still legible enough for the film to play well on the small screen, which may well be Amazon’s fate, while the production and costume designers The creations of Benjamin Padero and Carlo Tabije punctuate the dark side with vibrant colour. Full credits 2018
Venue: Sundance Film Festival (Midnight)
Cast: Felicity Kyle Napuli, Beauty Gonzalez, James Mavie Estrella , Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Angeli Bayani, Arnold Reyes, Ronnie Lazaro
Publisher: Amazon Studios
Production companies: Amazon Studios, Epicmedia, Zhao Wei Films, Volos Films, Clover Films2018 Director and Screenwriter: Kenneth Dagatan Producers: Bradley Liew, Huang Junxiang, Bianca Balbuena, Stefano Centini
Executive Producers: Eric Khoo, Lim Teck, Paulyn Chua Director of Photography: Russell Morton Production Designer: Benjamin Padero, Carlo Tabije Costume Designer: Carlo Tabije Editor: Gao Mingzhe eng
Sound Design: Eddie Huang, Chen Yi Ling Music: Wu Xing 1 hour minutes
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