THIN SKIN is a moving tale about a divorced young father struggling to pursue a career as a musician while living with his sister and mother and working at a soul-crushing desk job.
The film was directed by Charles Mudede and stars Ahamefulo Oluo, Lindy West, and Black Lives Matter's Ijeoma Oluo. In addition to starring in the film, Ahamefulo Oluo co-wrote the script and composed the music.
The film explores the themes of identity and self-knowledge through the lens of heritage and family.
The story develops when Aham, the protagonist, discovers that his estranged father from Nigeria is interested in connecting with him. His sudden, albeit brief appearance in his son and daughters' lives is upsetting and throws everyone off-balance.
The short-lived connection between father and son is a strained one erupting in conflict and hurt feelings as the father adamantly lectures his son on quitting music and getting serious about a real career.
There's a key moment in the film when Aham learns that his Nigerian name Ahamefulo doesn't translate to mean what he thinks it does, and this brings him to a more honest realization about his family and past.
When asked by his boss why he doesn't go by his full African name, Aham says that "no one can say it or remember it" and explains that despite all this, his name means, "let my name not be forgotten."
There's a development in the film when the protagonist gets so sick that he is hospitalized and develops a terrible skin condition. The writers attempted to bring in some comedy here, which felt a bit forced.
Also, this part of the film really pulled me out of the story and felt like a tangent instead of an integral part of the protagonist's journey toward finding healing and personal development.
I wanted to see more of the father-son relationship developing and I wanted to see Ahamefulo develop his music career.
In terms of story structure, there wasn't a sense of the protagonist getting what he wanted or having to sacrifice something in exchange.
However, overall, I felt that the film worked best when it focused on Ahamefulo's journey of self discovery.
Ahamefulo's authentic performance carried the film as he demonstrated his vulnerability in a beautiful way, stirring up nostalgic feelings of home and family in a universal way that we can all relate to.
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