Ta peau si lisse

Denis Côté is one of Canada’s most accomplished and surprising filmmakers, who alternates between bigger-budget fiction features and more independent documentaries. A companion of sorts to his superb Bestiaire (which screened at Cinéma du Réel in 2012) — a crepuscular portrait of zoo animals — A Skin So Soft closely follows six bodybuilders as they prepare for championships. Shot in formally precise compositions, the film approaches the strongmen with a genuine sense of curiosity and compassion, and reveals the complexities of balancing their workout rituals with their personal lives. As the men’s bodies are “observed, evaluated and analyzed” (to quote from a teacher’s instructions), Côté crafts a droll and tender portrait of these modern-day gladiators driven by a mutual idea of physical perfection.