It presents itself as a mix of Twin Peaks and a teen movie and it's pretty much that. Though synopsis makes it about the consequences of the disappearance of Carolyn Harper (like Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks), it's barely about that. We see what happens to her in the beginning, and then people talk about it a little. But apart from her mother's grief storyline and a two minutes scene where people are looking for her, she could have never existed and the movie would pretty much be the same. But there's this Twin Peaks feeling from the small town where things have gone bad (though not as bad and not as weird).
There are a lot of characters (no really, A LOT), mostly teenagers, and some of their parents. Almost all of them have their own storyline. Most of them are pretty much the classic teen movies stories, love stories, school, issues with parents, friendship, rivalities, prom dance, divorced parents... Though most of them have a weird or a somehow dark twist. But it's a little difficult to keep in mind who's who or even to remember every (or even any) name because there are really too many.
The most impressive one is the dead girl's mother. Can't say that her story is really interesting but the interpretation is very impressive in its different rendering of grief. She's totally out during singing lessons, try to hold on to anything that reminds her of her daughter, even wearing her dresses, up to having sex with a teenager because he "smells like her".
The most entertaining one is the apathetic girl that sells her mother's used panties and drugs.
The rest is not at the same level, but it's generally ok.
The most confusing one is the complex relationship between some of the parents. So there's the panties girl's mother, that doesn't seem to get out of her bed very often. She seems to have been with the city cop at some point but not anymore though at some point they all seem to have breakfast in the same house. There's the cop's new wife, who is pregnant, but it's not clear if its his and it actually turns out she's not pregnant at all. She has an affair with the panties girl's father, with several sex scenes where he is in full clown makeup. I think her ex is involved too. And allthese people have children that you follow too, so it's getting very hard to remember the links between them.
In the end, even if all is mixed, every character's part is pretty short, and none is really bad, so even if one is less interesting, it quickly jumps to another. Except for the choir scenes. Waaaaaay too long and annoying, and several times at that.
One very weird thing is how little it actually treats of Carolyn's disappearance. Her mother's concerned, yes, but when she finds the boy that pretty much killed her, because he smells like her, because his car smells like her, and who has a very suspicious attitude, she ends up having sex with him, instead of maybe, mentioning that to the police ? Same thing for him, there could have been some guilt, some concern with the police, or with interacting with her mother, but nope, no issue having sex with her. He also have that scrach on his forehead that she did, nobody is ever concerned about that.
Another thing, that kinda goes with the previous point, is the light effects on the small injury that Carolyn did on the boy, and on her glasses. In the beginning it looks like it would be a clue of something important in the story, or even a revelation of something kinda supernatural. But nope. Nothing. It's just extremely flashy visual effects, the only ones in the movie, used on stuff that is totally ignored and has no influence on anything after. That's pretty annoying. This is where the Twin Peaks part goes away. There's actually nothing supernatural going on.
The movie has also a very strong pro feminist, pro gay, pro minorities message, with a very diverse cast, however even if it could kinda pass as an accident, the guy still killed Carolyn because decided she didn't want to have sex with him, and all he gets for that is a jacket that says "I treat girls like shit" ?? That feels wrong.
Shout by Saint PaulyBlockedParent2019-11-20T18:56:51Z
Knives and Skin is a game of connect the dots where the puzzle contains some really elegant points but the big picture is nothing more than a random jumble of lines.
Knives and Skin is an amateurish indie film that has something to say but doesn't know what that is. It's a shame because there are some wonderful visuals spread over the top of the mess.