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Skin

EMAILPRINTElysian Films

Skin reviews
62
N/A User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 16 critic reviews
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Based on 0 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama  |  Mystery

Written by: Helen Crawley

Directed by: Anthony Fabian

Release Date:
Theatrical: October 30, 2009

Running Time: 107 minutes, Color

Origin: UK | South Africa

Language(s): English | Zulu

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for thematic material, some violence and sexuality

Starring Sophie Okonedo, Sam Neill, Alice Krige, Tony Kgoroge, and Ella Ramangwane

Skin is one of the most moving stories to emerge from apartheid South Africa: Sandra Laing is a black child born in the 1950s to white Afrikaners, unaware of their black ancestry. Her parents are rural shopkeepers serving the local black community, who lovingly bring her up as their ‘white’ little girl. But at the age of ten, Sandra is driven out of white society. The film follows Sandra’s thirty-year journey from rejection to acceptance, betrayal to reconciliation, as she struggles to define her place in a changing world - and triumphs against all odds. (Elysian Films)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

This great film by Anthony Fabian tells this story through the eyes of a happy girl who grows into an outsider.

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83

Entertainment Weekly Clark Collis

A tragic, enraging, and uplifting tale.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

Director Anthony Fabian lets the story sell itself, and it does so partly on the strength of the lead performance by Sophie Okonedo.

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75

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

If you didn't know that it was based on a true story, Skin would be a little hard to believe.

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75

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Inherently dramatic but needed a stronger director than Anthony Fabian, who overdoes understatement.

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70

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Ella Ramangwane gives a fine performance as the young Sandra.

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70

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

The fact that it's actually based on a true story adds an extra layer of poignancy, heightened further by another superb Sophie Okonedo performance.

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70

Variety Dennis Harvey

One of the more bizarre illustrations of racial injustice under apartheid is dramatized in Skin.

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70

Village Voice Ella Taylor

This workmanlike, but enormously moving, movie makes the case that apartheid really does control her life, even her decision to rebel and get involved with a black man.

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63

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Skin is both exasperatingly choppy and exceptionally moving.

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60

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

A little more variation in the script, though, might have yielded something truly great.

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50

New York Post V.A. Musetto

The direction is never more than conventional, with a tear-inducing finale better suited to a TV soap opera.

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50

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Alas, Mr. Fabian, directing his first feature-length fiction film, uses a club whenever a feather would do. He also mishandles the actors, in particular Mr. Neill and Ms. Okonedo, both of whom have been incomparably better elsewhere.

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50

Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey

Too many of the characters are either good or bad, and that loss of nuance is missed.

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40

Time Out New York Kevin B. Lee

The story is too rich in incident for Fabian, whose episodic TV-movie approach speeds through Laing’s lifetime of abuse.

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38

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

It’s a fascinating story: part genetic mystery, part socio-racial tragedy. However, Laing’s life, despite its inherent melodrama, does not automatically lend itself to the screen.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 0.0 (out of 10) based on 0 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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