There is no obvious story being narrated in Skin in Spring (La piel en primavera), a quiet film that follows a young single mother as she embarks on a new job as a security guard in a shopping mall and begins a relationship with a flirtatious bus driver. Yet this observational drama, a first feature by Colombian director Yennifer Uribe Alzate, has something under the surface that grows on you. Shot against the lively, colorful background of Medellin, with nary a sicario or narcotrafficker in sight, it focuses instead on the daily life of normal women who love life: shopgirls and floor cleaners, their friendships and laughter. Above all, it opens a wide window on their sexuality. After bowing in the Berlinale Forum, the film was selected for San Sebastian’s prestigious Horizontes Latinos selection.
Shooting very much from a woman’s P.O.V., the filmmaker explores female sensuality and sexual desire perceptively and honestly, always in a realistic context and without making a big deal out of it. Filming eroticism without any blushing prudishness or leering prurience is never easy. Skin in Spring’s most striking quality is that it forefronts Sandra’s body in nearly every scene with delicacy and tact, thanks to the incredible naturalness of newcomer Alba Liliana Agudelo Posada in the role of Sandra.
Starting from her own body consciousness of being “fat” and overage (she reminds herself she’s the mother of a 15-year-old), the protag gradually moves into a different space. Her new friends at work guide her to a more youthful and sexy look that redefines her self-image as a curvy, desirable 30-something. And even if the men in her life leave much to be desired, she ends the film as a self-confident woman who can take pleasure by herself and who enjoys the feeling of spring air on her bare skin.
Sandra meets Javier as she rides the bus to her first day at work. She is dressed neatly and identically to other riders, in jeans with her hair pulled back. Yet the bus driver singles her out and invites her to sit up front in the shotgun seat beside him. Throughout their small ritual of invitation and acceptance, the camera concentrates on Sandra’s mini-reactions of surprise, pleasure and curiosity. The driver is kept out of the frame and the audience is left to form its own image of him, possibly attributing danger and dark motives to his interest in this woman passenger. But several scenes later, when we finally get a look at him, he has the sandy hair and honest face of actor Eduardo Arango, which dispels most of our doubts.
This is Medellin, Colombia after all, and the narrative expectation is that some unpleasant, dangerous or dramatic situation will soon develop to threaten Sandra. The surprise is that Uribe Alzate’s screenplay dispenses with the drama, yet still manages for the most part to hold interest in its ever-more-radiant heroine.
As she rambles around the mall in her well-fitting security uniform, Sandra finds a welcoming atmosphere. She soon makes friends with a smiling floor cleaner who sells discounted sex toys on the side, as well as lace push-up bras in eye-catching colors. A less savory encounter takes place when Sandra pats down a girl caught shoplifting (again, her face remains out of frame to keep the attention on the security guard.) As Sandra touches her, she gyrates her hips suggestively – an invitation Sandra declines with a look.
But most of the film’s eroticism is not for sale but a natural expression of being human, being free, and being happy. The soundtrack is laden with Latin rhythms coming from radios or just the people next door, in dance halls or in one scene on a parked bus, where Sandra moves sensually to teach Javier to dance. Colombian-Italian cinematographer Luciana Riso Soto, whose work has included a number of short films that bowed at major festivals, captures the local color effortlessly, while always keeping Sandra’s inner transformation center frame.
Director, screenplay: Yennifer Uribe Alzate
Cast: Alba Liliana Agudelo Posada, Eduardo Arango , Cristian Lopez, Julian Lopez Gallego
Producers: Alexander Arbelaez, Jose Manuel Duque Lopez, Rebecca Gutierrez, Campos
Cinematography: Luciana Riso Soto
Editing: Juan Canola Velez
Production design: Marcela Gomez Montoya
Music: Alekos Vuskovic
Sound: Romina Cano
Production companies: Monociclo Cine (Colombia). Pinda Productions (Chile)
Venue: San Sebastian International Film Festival (Horizontes Latinos)
In Spanish
100 minutes
