Hope Goldman is a name that somewhat contains a couple of words with certain high and up-market aspirations, therefore, one can safely assume it needs to be marketed. Of course, who would not want a person called Hope to be exactly that for them; their one-way journey to the inevitable of it all? In Austin Peters’ stylishly and gleamingly cinematic LA venture ‘Skincare’ it is the name of a nimble…”
plain and simple sage of Hollywood who runs cumbersome ergonomic minimalist boxes with elaborately scripted scientific names on them containing cosmetics for a ‘beauty’ that is hopelessly invasive. Those products all would be part of a future skincare line, one of those ones which includes hope in its forecast. Perhaps they will return to you that youth radiance which was lost too fast, once. But with these on, who knows, perhaps, they will eventually put a halt to aging. One can only hope…
If over the last century, something comes forth from the glitzy romp that is LA-based filmography, it is that every single one of us desires something grand enough in the city of perpetual sunshine known aptly as the City of Dreams. This is no different with hope over the years forming a dependable roster of beauty and wellness providers in her bubble of hiking bikini clad wannabe screen divas in a few years panned out.
However, at the brink of her great breakthrough, she is running out of money (though it does not make sense why she so kindly offers out full size product samples to everyone) , that she is behind on rent and that one hot new beauty salon —yes, one just like in many cities — is opening up directly in front of her store. Its owner Angel Vergara (a bunchy Gerardo Méndez) appears absolutely pleasant initially. Instead, he instead, how could he do that to her clients and parking spaces, not only win his place on the market, but also convince people in the miraculous properties of their products – not only fight but face the aging process.
Little by little, up-and-coming writer-director Peters (with co-writers Sam Freilich and Deering Regan) turns on the strong noir overtones of the film. One wonders if, once Hope logs onto Facebook and receives a rather random text message one day (a video of herself being spied on), she might be in for a film reminiscent of Michael Haneke’s tomorrow. Well, Peters shows, there is something that he’s not just yet. Yet this brighter funny Los Angeles story shows that its creator has seen and really absorbed the classics of cinema with the proud La La Land setting where the city is the main character as in “Sunset Boulevard” and “Mulholland Drive”, in her history.
As will be seen of course and the modern parlors of “Skincare”, for example, have older brothers and sisters and they are obvious and they do not pretend to be closer to the capital and more with these all-timers. Yet Peters is still attending to each and every one: it is time for game changers, cinema lovers who are even key into the grand and beautiful cinematic city that he grew inside and who quickly figures out that stories about inexperienced criminals with no option (better her than me) at all (like Fargo) are always going to go something completely crazy and interesting.
Peters impressively interlaces all that is good, special, and yes, even quite bad about L.A. and its people, so much so that they may crush one’s dreams. The piece ‘Skincare’ is no one-sided melo-drama for every wide-open vista there is a “skincare” or claustrophobic corner to it. And for every most ridiculously sunny day, there is a dim and uninviting room where a window is embedded above the sight line:sunk in the wall, only worsening the depressed feeling. ‘Temecula Valley’, ‘Monmouth Beach’, etc. are the wealthy enclaves with all smooth surfaces and for every one of them there are those who are left to face their own wrinkles.
Hope is a diligent businesswoman who respects good things that are obviously well-deserved for herself and her ambitious assistant Marine, Mj Rodriguez, and simply does not want to join the latter group of people. Except there are times when she is left with no option other than to call upon the sleazy life coach Jordan, fabulously played by Lewis Pullman, at times, when her email, website, and client list get hacked and the hacker puts up all sorts of sexual images and personal ads on behalf of Hope and sends out spam to her contacts from Hope’s. Is it angel doing all this or are there the other factors in order to bring her down Parsons a handful of the actual …
The answer isn’t all that difficult to say but that suspense is not the be-all and end-all of “Skincare”. Rather, it rather boldly addresses issues about how our culture obsessively focused on the youth intends to undermine the confidence of a middle-aged woman who has earned accolades in her profession ( there goes the “sunset Boulevard” allusion again) and who shall always finds the A’s ration to sap her self-esteem.
Another charm of the film, complete with colorful, sun-stretched cinematography, is that Banks is practically willing to explore every aspect of her character Hope’s quest through the wrong paths and wrong turns that life plays, in spite of the unfriendly, impenetrable city. In that, “Skincare” succeeds; it successfully engenders a discipline worth adopting.
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