Bob Strauss April 7, 2021Updated: April 9, 2021, 7:15 am
Koen De Bouw and Yahya Mahayni in “The Man Who Sold His Skin.” Photo: Tanit Films
“The Man Who Sold His Skin” is the first Tunisian production ever nominated for the international feature film Academy Award and boy, does it fit the category. It’s also undeniably, sometimes radically, an art film, which is not always the case with multilingual Oscar contenders.
Directed by Tunisia’s Kaouther Ben Hania (“Beauty and the Dogs”), this rather tall tale charts the maddening misadventures of Syrian refugee Sam Ali (Yahya Mahayni in a demanding, accomplished feature debut) from the war-torn Middle East through the finest hotels and galleries of Europe. With a Schengen visa, the travel document he couldn’t obtain as a mere human being, tattooed on his back, Sam becomes a valuable and (mostly) welcome art object without borders.
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