Skeletons (2011)

Going to skip the preamble this time, because today's film is far more interesting than the relationship I have with it. Suffice it to say that it's one of these fascinating little curios I occasionally find when I'm searching through iPlayer; I first ran into it a good few months ago, and when I started writing about films it was exactly the sort of thing I wanted to bring to a (marginally) wider audience. I've succeeded, too - when I re-watched it yesterday, Mr. Beaupepys watched it along with me. He was impressed, I think, although my expression of maniacal enthusiasm might have influenced him, or possibly the rifle I'd pointed at his head.

Anyway, Skeletons. It's a low-budget, low-special-effects comic fantasy about Davis (Ed Gaughan) and Bennett (Andrew Buckley), a pair of psychic detectives in the employ of the mysterious Colonel (Jason Isaacs). They travel the country, mostly on foot, identifying the houses of their clients by pen-and-ink drawings and then donning leather aprons and entering said clients' inner lives via their bedroom closets. For Bennett, it's just another day at the office, but Davis lives and breathes his job. He spends his downtime in the derelict trawler that serves as his home, endlessly revisiting scenes from his childhood, much to the concern of those who care about him.

It sounds like the setup for yet another generic horror movie, doesn't it, or at least a psychic variant on the Men in Black franchise. That was certainly what I assumed I was getting prior to watching the film for the first time.  What I found, however, was stranger, smarter and much, much sweeter...

The good

In case it wasn't already obvious, I was really, really impressed with Skeletons. There's an understated beauty to almost every aspect of it - the cinematography (all those lovely framing shots of the investigators walking to their destinations), the performances (Andrew Buckley's Bennett is one of the most flat-out likeable movie characters I've seen in years, while Danish actress Paprika Steen shone as worried client Jane) and a script as humane as it is intelligent.

It's that last part that I liked best, I think - the way the film trusts the audience to have the brains to work things out for themselves. It throws us more or less straight into the investigators' lives without bothering with exposition, and when they start using professional jargon we're left to make educated guesses as to what, say, glow-chasing might be. Some points are eventually made explicit; most aren't, and that's okay - the main focus here is on the characters, and no matter how interesting their occupation might be, we like them first and foremost as people.

One final special mention goes to the soundtrack, which suggests a mood without ever being intrusive. It varies between slightly melancholic European café music and more alien, exotic Bulgarian choral themes, doing exactly as much as is necessary but never distracting us from the business at hand.

The bad

I don't really have much negative to say about this one; I thought it was a joy and a treasure, and that huge credit has to go to all involved.

That said, its intelligence might be less of a plus point if you're at the end of a long working day and just want to switch your brain off. Skeletons doesn't demand your full concentration but it certainly makes a polite request for it, and there's a certain level of intellectual effort required to keep up with what's happening. It is a film to be savoured, and if you take the time to do so, it's a profoundly rewarding experience.

The verdicts

A definite favourite within the Beaupepys house, this is a beautiful little story, beautifully told. Think of it as a less ostentatious Faberge egg, perhaps, or better still, a real egg, because what could be more simple and perfect than that?