Skins (2002)

59% of critics liked it
(58 reviews)
86% of users liked it
(2,126 ratings)

Filmmaker Chris Eyre, who directed the independent success story Smoke Signals -- one of the first motion pictures directed by, written by, and starring Native American talent -- offers another look at contemporary Native American culture in this hard-hitting drama. Rudy (Eric Schweig) and Mogie… More Filmmaker Chris Eyre, who directed the independent success story Smoke Signals -- one of the first motion pictures directed by, written by, and starring Native American talent -- offers another look at contemporary Native American culture in this hard-hitting drama. Rudy (Eric Schweig) and Mogie (Graham Greene) are two brothers living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Located in the poorest county in the United States, joblessness and alcoholism are all-too-common facts of life in Pine Ridge, and Rudy and Mogie represent opposite ends of the scale of fortune. Mogie, a Vietnam veteran who came home emotionally scarred by the war, has a severe drinking problem and can't relate to his teenage son Herbie (Noah Watts), while Mogie's younger brother Rudy has struggled to better himself, and as a law enforcement officer is a respected member of the Pine Ridge community. But while Rudy is determined to do something positive for his town, he feels there's only so much he can do as a lawman, and in his off-hours he's become a vigilante, roughing up people whom he believes are helping to bring down Pine Ridge, and plotting to blow up a nearby liquor store that profits from the widespread alcoholism that has destroyed the lives of so many of his people, including his brother. Skins received its world premier at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 27 min.
Directed By: Chris Eyre
Written By: Jennifer D. Lyne
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Sep 27, 2002 Wide
On DVD: Mar 25, 2003
Studio: First Look Media

Critic Reviews

, Los Angeles Times
Skins is a wrenching, uncompromisingly bleak film, but its stars ... fill the screen with warmth, humor and spiritual yearning in the face of hardship and tragedy.
Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News
It's a haunting indictment of a situation that has by and large been swept under the rug by Americans -- a stirring look at one man's impotent rage.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
To see this movie is to understand why the faces on Mount Rushmore are so painful and galling to the first Americans.
Susan Stark, Detroit News
Although mainstream American movies tend to exploit the familiar, every once in a while a film arrives from the margin that gives viewers a chance to learn, to grow, to travel.
John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press
What makes Skins compelling is how it opens our eyes to conditions on the reservation.
Janice Page, Boston Globe
For all its serious sense of purpose ... [it] finds a way to lay bare the tragedies of its setting with a good deal of warmth and humor.
Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope
While most of the acting was good, some of it was amateurish.
Brian Mckay, eFilmCritic.com
Like Smoke Signals, the film is also imbued with strong themes of familial ties and spirituality that are powerful and moving without stooping to base melodrama
Paul Malcolm, L.A. Weekly
Rather quickly, the film falls into a soothing formula of brotherly conflict and reconciliation.
Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Whatever Eyre's failings as a dramatist, he deserves credit for bringing audiences into this hard and bitter place.
Anthony Miele, Film Threat
Director Chris Eyre is going through the paces again with his usual high melodramatic style of filmmaking.
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Though the aboriginal aspect lends the ending an extraordinary poignancy, and the story itself could be played out in any working class community in the nation.
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
It lacks the compassion, good-natured humor and the level of insight that made [Eyre's] first film something of a sleeper success.
Sean Means, Salt Lake Tribune
Thanks to strong performances by Schweig and Greene, the results are powerful and heartbreaking.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
There's a certain raggedness and preachiness to the picture, but ultimately its simplicity and basic integrity shine through and compensate for the flaws.
, E! Online
Despite all of its good intentions, Skins remains only skin deep.

Read all 16 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Moe E

This is one the wife picked and I had no idea what we were getting into. Ultimately, the film is a brutal look at the realities of life, or what passes for life, on a Lakota reservation. As always, Graham Greene is excellent!

Cast

Eric Schweig
as Rudy
Graham Greene
as Mogie
Gary Farmer
as Verdell

Noah Watts
as Herbie
Lois Red Elk
as Aunt Helen
Michelle Thrush
as Stella

See full cast

Skins (2002)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Moe E

Cast

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