A Skin So Soft - Documentary

[wilder]

Directed by Denis Côte
Release Date - TBD

"Two gloriously muscled bodybuilders eye each other with distrust, envy and contempt at the gym in Denis Côte's A Soft the Skin." That's one of the moments from the first days of this year's Locarno Festival that has stuck with Notebook editor Daniel Kasman."Premiering in the international competition, this documentary essay of male skin stretched to its max over bodies of outrageous bulk discreetly steps around the personal motivations of its hulking men in favor of glimpses of their somewhat introverted, secretive auras, as if what brought them each this this point of extreme strength and absurd body mass was of deeply private concern."

"The subjects of Côté's fascination with this extreme form of self-creation project a hyper-charged masculinity that's undercut by rituals traditionally associated with femininity, from make-up and bronzers to the whole act of displaying one's body for admiration," writes Jay Weissberg in Variety. "Côté doesn't emphasize this dichotomy (or is it a paradox?); true to his admirably eclectic approach, the maverick director weaves together portraits of six bodybuilders that push to the margins personal details and grand statements about the sport. More like a true portrait painter, he focuses on the surface of things knowing that, when images are well chosen and the presentation is right, skin can offer a wealth of details.

[...]

...for Muriel Del Don, this is "a courageous film that situates statuesque figures somewhere between suffering and ecstasy, the perfect being and the ultimate monstrosity."