The story of a man who takes his skin off for his girlfriend, and why it probably wasn’t the best idea…
Watching this film had us grimacing the entire way through, flinching and feeling an endless irritable burn at every touch, but we strangely kept on watching, and every pain we felt became seamlessly beautiful. He Took His Skin Off For Me is an 11 minute Kickstarter project of a magical realist fairytale about a guy who takes his skin off for his girlfriend, and why it probably wasn’t the best idea.
The absurd idea originated from a short story written by Maria Hummer of the same name, after reading the story Ben simply couldn’t get it out of his mind.
The imagery and the language were at once haunting, dark, tragic and beautiful. When I read it I was surprised it didn’t already exist, it feels so familiar yet it’s totally unique. I just simply couldn’t stop thinking about it, I was dreaming about it. I could SEE it. The worst thing about ideas like that is that you have to make them to get them out of your head. I didn’t want to keep having dreams about skinless people.
She never wrote this as a film and only gave it to me to get some feedback, but I instantly told her it was going to be a film.
‘He Took His Skin Off For Me’ is an eery film filled with some gruesome imagery, but the contrast with its smooth and beautiful story creates an underwhelming take on paradoxes and symbolism of things.
To be honest if you were to try and describe what happens in the film you probably couldn’t top 650 words. It’s why short stories translate as often to features as they do shorts, there’s usually too much story there. A good short film can often compare more favourably in literature to a poem or haiku. Paradoxically, simplicity can enhance depth in short film storytelling. With this story it allowed us to rewards the attention of the audience while simultaneously entertaining on a surface level with its conceptual audacity.
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