Skin Art

By DANIEL M. KIMMEL

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An ITC Entertainment Group presentation of a New Gaelic Films/LiveHeart production. Produced by Ron McGee. Executive producer, Craig B. Coogan. Directed , written by W. Blake Herron.
 
Will ...Kirk Baltz
Richard ... Jake Weber
Sophia ... Hil Cato
Lily ... Nora Ariffin
Lin ... Ariane
 

"Skin Art" wants viewers to figure out what makes Will (Kirk Baltz) tick. He's a tattoo artist who specializes in elaborate works on the backs of Asian prostitutes. While the film transcends its seedy milieu, it still ends up being little more than a mystery resolved through an all-too-convenient flashback. Look for quick playoff on the fest circuit.

Story covers two tracks. Present-day story has Will working for Richard (Jake Weber), a procurer for the brothel across the street from Will's loft. Will shuns sex with the women, as he is haunted by memories of Vietnam.

In progressive Vietnam flashbacks, Will is tortured to reveal troop placements, then ministered to by Sophia (Hil Cato), a sophisticated and somewhat bitter young Vietnamese-French woman. Eventually it becomes clear that Will's behavior with his latest tattoo subject (Nora Ariffin) represents an attempt to work through his unresolved conflicts related to Sophia.

Story is pretty schematic and not half so erotic as it would like to be. Thesping is par, with Baltz a ringer for a younger Treat Williams, and Weber suitably slimy as the procurer. Find is newcomer Cato, who has some rough edges in her delivery but who deftly handles the contradictory cynicism and romanticism of her character.

Writer-director W. Blake Herron tries to convey with arty camera work what his script lacks, and it doesn't always do the job. Tech credits are adequate for low-budget feature, but time might have been better spent figuring out why anyone should care about Will's sublimated search for his lost innocence.

Camera (Duart color), Rick Putnam; editor, Wendy Scheir; music, James Legg; production design, Beth Curtis; set decoration, Karen Nicole; costume design, Lisa Kent, Anastasia Macris; sound (Dolby), Annette Danto; tattoo artists, Steve Ferguson, Paul Booth; assistant director, Gretel Enck; second unit director, Debra Major; second unit camera, Julie Doynow. Reviewed at Loews Copley Place, Boston, Sept. 8, 1993. (In Boston Film Festival.) Running time: 88 MIN.