12/03/2024 - In his fourth feature film based on real events, Koen Mortier paints an uncompromising and incredibly disturbing portrait of a young man torn apart by abuse

Discovered in November at the Just Film - Youth and Children's Film Festival - unspooling in parallel with Tallinn’s Black Nights Film Festival - where the film won the Youth Jury Prize, Koen Mortier’s Skunk [+see also:
interview: Thibaud Dooms
film profile] is set for release in Belgian cinemas on 13 March, courtesy of September Film. Koen Mortier isn’t known for doing things by halves, and Skunk is no exception to this rule. Ex-Drummer [+see also:
trailer
film profile] employed a certain level of cynicism to depict the troubling relationship between a thrill-seeking writer and three disabled and particularly violent rock musicians who decide to allow the former into their band; 22nd of May [+see also:
trailer
film profile] plunged viewers into the chaos that followed a bomb explosion in a shopping centre; and Angel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Koen Mortier
film profile] explored the disqualification of a racing cyclist who had lost himself to drugs, obliterating himself in night-time Dakar.

In Skunk, Mortier pushes the boundaries of violence even further. The film paints the portrait of 17-year-old Liam, whom everyone believes to be lost, scarred for life by years of domestic abuse, embarked along an impossible path of rehabilitation and plagued by the abuse he’s suffered, which seems to have burrowed itself beneath his skin. We learn the extent of the damage inflicted upon Liam through various flashbacks, where the violence depicted is undeniably excessive and pushed to its limits, composed of all kinds of abuse (physical, sexual, substance, alcohol and drug abuse) and characterised by pure evil, punishment and humiliation. "Every child has a story to tell", the film tells us, and we’re also informed that Liam’s infernal trajectory is based on real events. The movie is, in fact, an adaptation of a novel by Geert Taghon, written off the back of years of experience working in adolescent psychiatry. In fact, it’s within a centre for boys that the present-day section of the story unfolds. Extracted and ultimately saved from his family, Liam is made to feel like an intruder when he arrives in the centre, unwelcome within this group where domination relationships create nigh-on permanent tension. In this morose context, brief moments of camaraderie and even affection can break through, even with one of the female support workers who tries to help Liam regain some self-worth. But violence is ever present, lying dormant but ready to explode at any moment…

Flanked by distinguished director of photography Nico Karakatsanis (who has previously demonstrated his talent in films as varied as Bullhead [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bart Van Langendonck
interview: Michaël R. Roskam
film profile], Hellhole [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bas Devos
film profile] and the American production I, Tonya), Koen Mortier shakes us up with each and every setback Liam encounters, using a moving camera to get as close as possible to the trials he faces. The frequently challenging scenes set in the boys’ centre shed rousingly truthful light on how difficult it is to live in these institutions and to keep them going, but the overall mood remains extremely sober, verging on sordid, at times making for an incredibly frightening film, mirroring the incredibly frightening path walked by Liam, who is brilliantly played by young Thibaud Dooms.

Skunk is produced by Czar Film (Belgium), in co-production with BALDR Film (Netherlands). International sales are managed by Reason8.

(Translated from French)