Knives and Skin

‘What is your problem?’ – ‘I don't like it when you do that.’ – ‘Do what?’ – ‘Touch me.’

A small town somewhere in the Midwestern US. For the local teens, high school life would not be complete without football team, marching band, cheerleaders and mascot. The adults are preoccupied with desire, midlife crises and marital problems. The disappearance of the schoolgirl Carolyn Harper rends the facade of normality for the townsfolk. Fear and loss cause the members of Carolyn’s circle to develop desperate coping strategies as they are forced to confront their shallow lives. Jennifer Reeder creates a mysterious world, accentuated by pop-song choirs, reinterpreting genre elements taken from magical realism, musical, absurd comedy and film noir. The result is a dazzling neo-feminist thriller that bathes urgent contemporary themes in a garish light.

details

  • Runtime

    111 min
  • Country

    United States
  • Year of Presentation

    2019
  • Year of Production

    2019
  • Director

    Jennifer Reeder
  • Cast

    Grace Smith, Ireon Roach, Kayla Carter, Tim Hopper, Marika Engelhardt, Raven Whitley, Audrey Francis, Kate Arrington, James Vincent Meredith, Ty Olwin
  • Production Company

    Newcity Chicago Film Project
  • Berlinale Section

    Generation
  • Berlinale Category

    Feature Film

Biography Jennifer Reeder

Born in Ohio, USA in 1973, she graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). The stories in her award-winning feature films revolve around relationships, traumata and how to cope with such experiences.

Filmography Jennifer Reeder

1995 The Devil Inside | 2014 A Million Miles Away | 2019 The Dunes