Khalil, Shaun, A Woman Under the Influence

1994 16mMovie

Sharon Lockhart's debut film from 1994 is divided into three parts. All parts are linked in showing the progression of a devastating skin disease of two ten-year-old boys which is successively revealed to be the progression of a skilfully applied special effects make-up. Shot against coloured backdrops, the first sections show portraits of the boys who are introduced by preceding titles as Khalil and Shaun. The third section is a dramatic sequence based on one of the last scenes in John Cassavetes's film A Woman Under the Influence (1974). Lockhart refrains from reproducing the scene literally. Instead, she places and collapses several moments into one, amplifying the main theme of the film - the attempt to pretend that everything is okay. Shaun is presented with his face horribly disfigured by blisters and wounds. His mother's pledges of future happiness thus become rather ominous.