What is it that the mind lets us experience?
What gets through to us; what gets shut out;
what resides in the subconscious; how do we fool ourselves?
- "Can Go Through Skin" director Esther Rots
"Can Go Through Skin" is a fascinating, absorbing film. Its central character, Marieke, suffers a brutal attack; the movie follows her attempt to deal with and move beyond her terror. Rots asks intriguing questions, and these concerns are often better handled in a written work than in a visual one; she uses the techniques of cinema to address these questions in evocative ways. And although not everything on the screen can be interpreted as being "real", the emotions at play most assuredly are.
The movie is anchored by the terrific performance by Rifka Lodeizen; in a mostly wordless, often internalized performance, Lodeizen makes Marieke's fear and struggle palpable. It's a difficult task, and in combination with Rots' jagged direction evoking the character's PTSD, Lodeizen makes Marieke a fully-formed person.
"Can Go Through Skin" screens Monday at 9:15 pm at the Globe.
