Skin Deep

Name: Skin Deep
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Released: February 2, 2024
Duration: 103 min
Rating: 81
Cast: Adam Bousdoukos, Alex Schaad, Dimitrij Schaad, Edgar Selge, Jonas Dassler

2024

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Universal acclaim based on 7 Critic Reviews

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Skin Deep (US Trailer 1)

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Movie Details & Credits

Kino Lorber | Release Date: February 2, 2024 | Not Rated

Starring: Adam Bousdoukos, Alex Schaad, Dimitrij Schaad, Edgar Selge, Jonas Dassler, Louise von Plessen, Mala Emde, Maryam Zaree, Selma Poyraz, Thomas Wodianka

Summary: Seeking a retreat where they can salvage their struggling relationship, young couple Leyla (Mala Emde) and Tristan (Jonas Dassler) travel to a remote island at the invitation of Leyla’s childhood friend Stella, where it soon becomes clear that what the island offers is more mysterious than a simple vacation. Leyla and Tristan join anotherSeeking a retreat where they can salvage their struggling relationship, young couple Leyla (Mala Emde) and Tristan (Jonas Dassler) travel to a remote island at the invitation of Leyla’s childhood friend Stella, where it soon becomes clear that what the island offers is more mysterious than a simple vacation. Leyla and Tristan join another couple in a ritual to exchange bodies and see the world through the eyes of someone else – a chance to find themselves or, for some of them, a chance at escape. Free from the constraints of her former body, Leyla quickly finds she has never been happier, with a fresh outlook on life and a new sense of release and fulfillment. But when she refuses to return to her old self, the situation threatens to spiral out of control. … Expand

Director: Alex Schaad

Genre(s): Drama, Fantasy, Romance

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 103 min

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Critic Reviews

The Film Stage Jared Mobarak

Jan 11, 2024

Schaad really ensures that we’re seeing beyond the surface. We’re experiencing the characters, their respective journeys, and their somber realizations that some incongruities can’t be fixed with a Band-Aid. Read full review

Allan Hunter

Jan 11, 2024

Alex Schaad’s spiky, good-looking debut feature takes a clever concept and develops it into a witty, provocative exploration of identity, gender fluidity, sexuality and the pursuit of happiness. Read full review

Alissa Wilkinson

Feb 1, 2024

What does love really mean? Skin Deep gives an answer: that real love is an act of radical imagination, of working to understand what it feels like to be another person. In reality, we can’t just swap bodies to find out — but love beckons us to try anyhow. Read full review

Collider Chase Hutchinson

Feb 2, 2024

Skin Deep is the type of quietly ambitious film that never forgets about the personal while immersing us in vast ideas about the underpinnings of identity itself. It is a poetic and profound gem of an experience you wouldn't dare swap for anything else. Read full review

William Repass

Jan 29, 2024

Though as fresh and conceptually far-reaching as a David Cronenberg film, it traffics in body ambivalence more than body horror, striking an eerie, wistful tone. Read full review

IndieWire David Ehrlich

Feb 2, 2024

It’s not unusual for such high-concept films to indulge in a thorny and fascinating second act only to find itself grasping for a more defined conflict in the third, and that’s essentially what happens here, as the broad philosophical mysteries take Leyla down a rabbit-hole that might be too deep for her to ever climb out. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Monica Castillo

Feb 2, 2024

Alex Schaad’s feature debut “Skin Deep” is a stripped-down sci-fi drama that takes its time to explore the social and romantic ramifications of its simple premise. Read full review

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