THIN SKIN
dir. Charles Mudede, 2020
United States. 90 min.
In English.

SATURDAY, JUNE 28 – 7:30 PM followed by Q+A with Charles Mudede

Charles Mudede’s first solo outing as director stars Ahamefule Joe Oluo and their sister Ijeoma Oluo (author of So You Want To Talk About Race) as fictionalized versions of themselves, grappling with the legacy of their long-absent father Nigerian father alongside the interminable fallout from Aham’s recent divorce. Given the drudgery of Aham’s concentration-cubicle office job, it seems his only respite comes from playing trumpet at a small nightclub in South Seattle; THIN SKIN introduces itself as a droll slice-of-life dramedy (ably assisted by Oluo’s friends, the comedians Hari Kondabolu and Dwayne Kennedy) before permutating into something far weirder, closer to a horror film about the real-world consequences of unprocessed family trauma. Writing to Stranger critic Jas Kiemig, Mudede said “A key feature of my film THIN SKIN is that no attempt was made to make it familiar to a person who has not spent some time in, first, Seattle, and, second, the Pacific Northwest. This is the lonely region of America I really love… Its story about Ahamefule Oluo and the ghost of his Nigerian father is also, visually, a story about experiencing this part of the world, which used to not have so many hot days.”

Described by its makers as “a music-infused drama about keeping it together when you’re falling apart”, THIN SKIN’s screenplay credit is shared by Ijeoma, Mudede, and Lindy West, creator of Shrill and one of Mudede’s longtime collaborators at The Stranger. The film as developed off of Oluo’s 2014 experimental opera “Now, I’m Fine” which, itself, went on to perform at theater festivals (including Under the Radar in New York) and was also adapted into the This American Life episode “The Wedding Crasher”. Shot in 2018, THIN SKIN’s intended 2020 release was severely hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, a setback Mudede et al met with characteristic resourcefulness. We are honored to give it this limited engagement at Spectacle.

“THIN SKIN moves in directions you couldn’t imagine and leaves you contemplating the connections between family, responsibility, and doing what you love… The film was fully shot in South Seattle and features beautiful shots of the city throughout. In one scene, Oluo sits on a bus, as the camera pans outside to a fog-filled South Jackson Street. But this is not an artistic portrait of Seattle; this is a portrait of an artist in Seattle. The city itself isn’t overly romanticized. It feels like an authentic view through the eyes of an artist struggling to balance passion for the arts with the reality of an unfulfilling corporate job.” – Mike Davis and Sarah Leibovitz, KUOW