The Skin I Live In (2011)

(AKA La piel que habito)



"A brilliant plastic surgeon, haunted by past tragedies, creates a type of synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession."

Far be it from me to suggest that internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar copied Matt Eskandari's "Victim" (2010), but I had an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu when I watched "The Skin I Live In". Give or take a few minor details and a lot more money, they are both essentially the same story.

Apparently, the reason for the similarities is that both movies were based on "Mygale", a French crime novel by Thierry Jonquet which was first published in 1984. I don't know how true that is because I haven't read it. It still seems suspicious to me that both directors waited around sixteen years before making their adaptations, but maybe it was merely synchronism.

"The Skin I Live In" is certainly the better of the two movies dramatically although, I hasten to add, I thoroughly enjoyed "Victim" too. In fact, if really pushed on the subject, I'd have to admit that purely for entertainment value, I enjoyed "Victim" a lot more. "The Skin I Live In" is too slick somehow and there is no real horror in it apart from ideas involved in the subject matter.

One of the huge differences between "Victim" and "The Skin I Live In" is that Elena Anaya plays the transformed victim in the latter. I don't want to give away the plot too much because I know that there are still some of you who haven't seen this, but that is a very severe change which I think is done more realistically in "Victim". The captive of "Victim" also deserves what happens a lot more.

Pedro Almodóvar has admitted that he was also inspired by "Eyes Without a Face" (1960) although, in fairness, there are even bigger differences between the two stories. The homage is actually quite subtle since "The Skin I Live In" has more dramatic and tragic elements rather than horror.

The cinematography is, of course, outstanding with all the steady, well-framed scenes, that you would expect. There are still quite a few flaws because of the almost surreal nature of the situation, and possibly, because Antonio Banderas isn't all that believable as a surgeon. Antonio Banderas has a gift for being more traditionally comedic than the still very dark comedy of this movie required, but I appreciated that he played things as straight as he could.

As a "non-horror" with a horror theme, "The Skin I Live In" is a difficult film to rate overall. As just a Pedro Almodóvar movie, it's one of his better ones and very enjoyable. As a horror, it doesn't have a lot of gore or scares so it's quite weak. I'm going to rate it as "average", but the quotation marks are very important. It's a great film which simply didn't conform to the rules of the horror genre enough to score any higher.

Nip/Tuck (2003–2010)

"Nip/Tuck is an American drama series created by Ryan Murphy, which aired on FX in the United States. The series focuses on McNamara/Troy, a plastic surgery practice, and follows its founders, Sean McNamara and Christian Troy. Each episode typically involves the cosmetic procedures of one or more patients, and also features the personal and professional lives of its main cast."

Basically, because I'm lazy, I've spent the last couple of days watching episodes of "Nip/Tuck" via Netflix. I bought the first two seasons as box sets a couple of years ago but never completed the collection as I used to watch "Nip/Tuck" religiously every week when I was still in England and the episodes were still too fresh in my mind. Now that it's all long since over, it's been a lot of fun revisiting some of the early episodes again though I've also realised that it was all a load of crap after the third season with "The Carver". They just couldn't match that season and the fourth one was supposed to be the last.

Someone high-up must have got a bit too greedy because season five completely jumped the shark by moving everything (and, seemingly, everybody) from Miami to Los Angeles. The internal logic of the show, such as it was, went downhill from then on but, like a lot of people, I was addicted and still watched it even though it was often cringeworthy.

Since I'm also in the habit of critiquing everything now, I might as well cover a few things which stood out. Obviously "Nip/Tuck" wasn't really horror even though the practical effects were definitely up there with the best that any horror film had to offer. I don't think there was a single episode without a load of blood and gore and, if it ever failed to deliver there, it also had a ton of increasingly depraved sex in it as well.

Dylan Walsh has since gone on to do "The Stepfather" remake which I mostly enjoyed but I think he was far more convincing as Sean McNamara. Similarly, Julian McMahon will always be Christian Troy to me even though he starred in those appalling "Fantastic Four" movies and a few episodes of "Charmed". The trouble is that if you play the same part for the number of years that these guys did then it's pretty hard to not be associated with that character forever. To give another example, Sarah Michelle Gellar will also always be Buffy to me although David Boreanaz seems to have escaped being Angel with his role as Agent Booth on "Bones".

Talking of "Bones", I was amused to see T.J. Thyne (who plays Hodgins) in one of season two's episodes where he was playing a smart-mouthed video store clerk. Christian had gone to get a video to watch with his blind girlfriend. Yes, I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense out of context. Actually, that's the problem with a lot of the "Nip/Tuck" episodes and their strength as well. If you actually try to tell anyone how ridiculous and extreme the stories became then they'd think you were watching some kind of really bad comedy. As much as I can believe that all the actors involved must have laughed their asses off at what they were doing, it all came across as serious and sometimes very moving.

There were only a couple of things which used to annoy me about "Nip/Tuck", well, one really, I really couldn't stand Joely Richardson. Her character, Julia McNamara, always seemed to have only one of two responses to everything. Either she was touching her neck or thrusting her head forward like a chicken gasping. I never saw the attraction that she was supposed to have for the male characters in the show but I suppose that's why they call it acting.

My favourite character was Gina (played by Jessalyn Gilsig) though every actor and actress in the show demonstrated that they really could act. It still amazes me how things that were set up from the pilot episode continued throughout all 100 and the characters remained very consistent. That was damn fine drama even though the famous writers' strike almost destroyed season five and season six was ridiculously tame in comparison to the rest. "Nip/Tuck" should have ended with season four, of course, and that's why it went out more with a fizzle than a real bang.

Anyway, I just thought I'd post something again about my non-horror viewing habits to add a bit of variety to my blog. I'm certain that I'm not the only horror blogger who watched "Nip/Tuck" though. With all the murders, rapes, mental illnesses and various mutilations that went on in the show, I don't feel ashamed that I watched what some people might consider a bit of a girls' TV show. I also used to watch "Desperate Housewives" for much the same reason but again, since the writers' strike, it never really recovered and I've lost all interest in it now.

Did you watch "Nip/Tuck"? If so, what were your favourite moments? Or do you have some other guilty pleasure TV show which you always watch?