Deerskin; Grade: B
Deerskin tells a story about a man named Georges (Jean Dujardin) whom recently acquired a 100% Deerskin jacket, which cost him a great amount of money but as a bonus he gets a digital cam corder. Georges bank account has been blocked, due to the fact he shared it with his ex wife, as now he has no money. He gets by with shelter, as his gold wedding ring covers the costs. Georges is obsessed with his Deerskin jacket and Deerskin in general. Georges comes up with an idea in order to receive money: Lie about being an acclaimed film maker. So he came up with an idea, of how one needs to be the only one in the world with a jacket on, as somehow a local bartender Denise (Adele Haenel) whom wants to be an editor buys into this nonsense. Witness a man that loses his mind, over his sick obsession with Deerskin.
The Cinematography was solid, t’was a nice looking picture. The Score was pretty cool, as it compliments the strange tone of this film. The cast all in all was solid as well. Jean Dujardin playing Georges had a solid performance, as this sick man. Georges is an interesting character indeed. The way he goes on about life is extremely odd, as the choices this guy makes just proves he lost his sanity. Especially when he blew off his only resource of money on a jacket, as you come to question how the hell is this guy going to survive?! You never root for this character due to the fact he’s bat shit crazy. All this character does is lie out of his ass, while also doing diabolical things just because he’s becoming influenced by the power of this jacket. Denise played by Adele Haenel had a solid performance, the character however becomes a mixed bag. I understand her deer desire of wanting to become an editor, but anyone that could believe Georges could be a reliable film maker has never once became believable. How this woman is able to buy into the hogwash Georges is feeding with her, with footage of nothing is hysterical to say the least.
What brought to my attention to Deerskin was the poster itself, as it appeared in my local theatre. So it looked like this was going to get a theatrical release, as the same ole broken record told over and over again... You know what happened. Deerskin is something particularly different. As it first appeared as a comedy, turn into a dark comedy that resembles horror like qualities over the course of time. One on Letterboxd compared the film as a mixture of In Fabric and Nightcrawler... Which I can the resemblance. As unusual as this story sounds... I actually enjoyed this film.
The story feels completely bizarre, but it however has a fair amount charm to it. In a way it can resemble to just how one thinks when viewing violence in cinema. Sometimes death scenes look authentic and even more so real, as we view violence on a screen, we assume majority of the time that it’s fiction. That’s why when Denise views the footage of Georges cassette tape, as we see actual violence occur in this small town... She doesn’t assume that the footage is actual events that happened, she just assumes their well crafted death scenes. It’s kind of frightening to think about, however it’s a neat idea that can catch anyone extremely involved with cinema off guard instantly. We also can see this as one getting lost in one’s own idea in cinema as well. Georges instantly gets lost in his idea, of one conquering the world as being the only man wearing a jacket. Sometimes as viewers we get lost in stories, as we become widely invested, to the point where any form of sanity can be left off the table. I gotta say even though this film is odd, it does however pull off a solid script. Also like being introduced to this old school editing machine, thought that was pretty cool as well. I guess one other issue worth pointing out is the fact this town, has made no attention on the ongoing slaughtering that is partaking in the town. For a film that is quick yet effective towards it’s small run time... This was cool.
Overall, Deerskin is a solid dark comedy. I recommend checking this one out, I will say this isn’t for everyone. -Mitch Smietana