This was the last film in a trilogy of true, underground movies made by Lewis in the 90's, on almost non-existent budgets. Ever since catching "Natural History of Parking Lots" on the Sundance channel in the mid 90's, I have been fascinated by this guys work, and anxious to see his other films. I was fortunate enough to have taped that broadcast off of Sundance which enabled me to study the film over the years. "Skin & Bones" possesses a lot of similarities to the 1990 film, such as the dark, melodramatic atmosphere, the strangeness of the editing and the actors voices that seem to echo as if they are in a large cave, and of course, it's brilliant use of stark, grainy b&w photography. One of the best, and true to life movies about male hustlers, "Skin & Bone" introduces the three main characters. All of which have very different personalities, but seem to have the same dreams of finding success and becoming someone important. B. Wyatt from "Natural History" as a character very similar to Lance, with his black leather coat and the motorcycle, and the hardened attitude; only here. As Harry, his ambition is different in that he wants to be an actor. He's in Hollywood to do this, and he's serious about it. He's just hustling to pay the bills, and to Harry it's just another acting gig, so to him it's just like rehearsing for the camera. Like any actor, he's capable of separating himself from the parts he is playing, so the job doesn't affect him..at first. But things get stranger and Harry is losing the stomach for hustling, fast. Almost out of the business, his nasty female pimp (an hysterically bad actress), puts him in charge of a young guy, new to the hustling scene. She wants Harry to "train' the kid, and him and Dean become friends. Dean is completely inexperienced and quickly gets chewed up by the scene, and when it happens, of course Harry feels responsible, and sets out to make things right, which turns out to be a tragic mistake. There is a third hustler, Billy, also new to the scene. Billy is not smart. And he gets lost in this dark world as well. And this film is "dark." One of it's strongest qualities is the photography, which captures this seedy, almost dreamlike world, so believably. This one is a lot more pessimistic, and a lot more violent that "Natural History of Parking Lots," and it does contain a surprising level of sexual sadism....beatings, stabbings and shootings, so it's hardly one of these PC, cute and safe "gay films" usually made in North America..in fact it's not specifically a "gay film" at all, but rather a film about sexually promiscuous and screwed up criminals and victims. The ending scene of "Skin & Bone" was especially powerful and sad, as well as disturbingly realistic. Everett Lewis made three very worthy films, this one, "Natural History of Parking Lots," and the lost film "Ambush of Ghosts," which never found a distributor due to it's dark subject matter and lack of mainstream qualities, and a film that I would do anything to see..but it was made between these two underground genre masterpieces, so I can imagine that it must be something very special. "Skin & Bone" is very rare these days, and dvd's have become scarce. I'm sure it must have some kind of cult following, like a lot of other films about hustling, like "Johns" and "My Own Private Idaho..." and it holds up well next to those films..
Review of Skin and Bone
