Second Skin (2000)

Dreadfully Boring

Absolutely Fantastic

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I caught this movie on TV after watching a rather suspicious promotional trailer. The first scene with the sensual Natasha Henstridge dressed in a semi-transparent white dress hooked me and I decided to give the movie a try.The first half of Second Skin is pretty tolerable. I felt I was watching a fair and honest low budget noir picture, certainly moving toward some major twists. But I could never expect the plot could become so flawed and the second half of the movie could become so lame and dreary.This predictable, cliché-ridden movie could have been interesting. The music and the photography create a nice, moody atmosphere. Henstridge is, well... sensual as the femme-fatale, and MacFadyen is ok as the guy running from his past. Even though I don't like the way some scenes are cut, the real problem is the plot which turns out to be some kind of mess in the second half of the movie.After the 90 minutes of Second Skin it's frustrating to realize probably nothing will linger in your memory apart from the beauty of Henstridge.

Natasha is very pretty, and yep she can act some, too. (Is it me, or is there more than a passing resemblance between her and Julia Roberts?) Fonda, while showing little range here, was quite creepy. The other girl in the movie... what the heck? She was in, what, 3? 4 scenes? 2? lines of dialogue? What was that all about? Maybe some of her scenes wound up getting cut, but, whatever the explanation, her character came out seeming bizarrely undershown, considering how important she turns out to be. Angus was alright. The big surprise for me here was Liam Waite; I hadn't seen him before, and I'm surprised to see the other comments on IMDB.com are so negative toward him. I found him quite intriguing here.The plot needed some help; I agree that the ending was poor, at least in part due to the mystery girl suddenly becoming so central at the end. There were other plot holes too, and a lot of cliches. Still, the mood of the film was nicely established, and I did feel some interest in the characters and finding out what their relationships were to one another. 4/10; would have been higher with a more rational plot, a more justifiable ending (not to say a cliched one, necessarily, but...), and a little more energy from the male lead.

The problem with this movie is the leaden touch of Darrell Roodt.Pretty photography and an absolutely gorgeous lead babe can't hide the fact that there is no plot, that the girl is getting involved with a guy who has the charisma of a rotting potato and that by the time you get to the mystery, you've really stopped caring.The movie _slowly_ meanders from one cliche to the next. Guy without a past runs a bookstore without clientele, when a beautiful babe comes in and spouts a number of tacky cliches. Then, in the mother of all plot devices, she walks out the store and _gets hit by a car_ so she can "lose her memory".Who cares? I don't. A waste of money.

I loved this movie. It was so beautifully shot and the acting was terrific across the board. It was great to see Angus Macfadyen from Braveheart in a completely different role. And Natasha Henstridge is a terrific actress. The story was very fun. Lots of twists and turns. And one great turn in the end. I loved the music. I looked up the credits and it was by Wendy and Lisa of Prince fame. Check out Peter Fonda for a wickedly tongue in cheek bad guy. All in all a fantastic stylish film. Why wasn't this in the theatres!