Based on Oluo’s own semi-biographical stage play (an off-Broadway run), who is also making his film debut, we quickly learn that Oluo is the real deal. He is a musician, a composer and the founding member of the award-winning jazz-punk quartet, Industrial Revelation.
And, perhaps just as important for the role, he is also a stand-up comedian — that means he has a sense of timing and just the right touch of pathos … and he delivers a performance that you will not soon forget.
As the story unfolds, we find Aham is stuck in a no future job, which is made all the more complicated by his boss (played by Jennifer Lanier — Bride and Zoom, The Last Champion) who wants to save him. She means well, but with the load he is carrying, it makes it harder, not necessarily easier.
And speaking of a heavy load, Aham, a single father
with two kids, has dreams of being a professional musician and spends his
nights at the various clubs (filmed in Seattle) … literally burning the candle
at both ends.
Exhausted, he needs the job to support his family, which also includes his “eccentric” mother, Susan (Annette Toutonghi — The Paper Tigers, Money Buys Happiness), who is white, and his older sister, Ijeoma (playing herself — his actual sister).
There’s more — animals, his mother is in her own little world — the noise, the tight quarters … there is no rest.
Throw in the long-since-gone father — it’s hard to
say whether Aham or Ijeoma have the greater resentment for him — who is
arrogant and judgmental. It is a
breaking point physically for Aham … a very tough period for him, sick and
exhausted. And does it show!!
We will not reveal the semi-twist ending, because it really needs to be experienced. Surreal for sure, but very up-lifting.
Thin Skin is a labor of love, an indie film with a heart. If this is in your viewing wheelhouse, then be sure to check it out on Blu-ray from Bayview Entertainment on Sept. 26.
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