I’ll just say up front that In My Mother’s Skin is not going to be liked by everyone. 

This slow burn Filipino folk horror by Kenneth Dagatan challenges you to find meaning in its nihilism- and judging by a good number of comments online, many are not willing to do that. But for cinephiles with a more open mind about foreign films, In My Mother’s Skin is worth praising because of its combination of real-world horrors with fantasy elements in a manner not unlike Pan’s Labyrinth or Tigers Are Not Afraid. (That’s some pretty interesting company.)

Set in the Philippines near the end WWII, In My Mother’s Skin tells the tale of a wealthy Filipino family whose only leverage against the occupying Japanese soldiers is that the father may know the whereabouts of gold stolen from the Japanese. But now, with the Americans landed, the Japanese and their sympathizers are more desperate than ever to take the gold before they are forced to retreat from the area.

Fearing his days of negotiating to keep his family safe are over, the father decides to run to the Americans for help believing this as the best way to better his family’s chances at survival.

So with father gone, it is left up to the mother, Ligaya (Beauty Gonzalez), with some help from a house maid, to care for her son, Bayani (James Mavie Estrella) and daughter, Tala (Felicity Kyle Napuli) by rationing the little amount of food they have at their disposal.

But their situation turns from bad to absolutely dire when Ligaya shows signs of a mysterious illness and begins coughing up blood. Ligaya’s deteriorating health motivates Tala to act against her mother’s wishes before the situation worsens and she and Bayani go out searching for food in the forest near their home.

So far, I haven’t described anything particularly horrific or fantastic about the film, but that’s only because I skipped over discussing the opening scene, which involves a cannibalistic man feeding on corpses before regurgitating a black bird and then hearing tainting echoes of maddening laughter. 

Yeah, so what’s that about? Turns out there’s a forest fairy in those woods that has set her sights on Tala and she’s ready to offer help- but at a cost. And Ligaya is unwittingly about to pay.

It’s hard not to admire Dagatan for the design of his fairy. Put simply, the fairy is just Filipino actress Jasmine Curtus-Smith in an elaborate, brightly coloured, insect-like dress that highlights her face. The visual brightness and elegance of the costume is intentionally juxtaposed with the dark and gritty realism of the mutilated bodies scattered in her lair. (The film can get preety gorey at times.) So, even though the look of Dagatan’s fairy does not require an abundance of visual effects beyond being weirdly dressed, there definitely is a sense of otherworldliness and uneasy menance in each scene she is in. 

Though truthfully, that army of cicadas she hangs with might also help with that. Damn, I hate those bugs.

I understand why some people have trouble with In My Mother’s Skin‘s story. The family’s outlook is so bleak that it doesn’t seem to really matter what choices the characters make. Whether it is death from starvation, death at the hands of greedy soldiers or traitors looking for gold, or death by a fairy’s false promises, death seems inevitable. And though the father tries his best to feed Ligaya hope before he leaves, it is obvious from the start that his plan has little chance of succeeding and seems more like an excuse for he, himself, to flee before he’s hunted. It’s all so dreadfully nihilistic and that has led a lot of people to label the film as pointless. 

But I beg to differ.

In My Mother’s Skin depicts the various ways individuals in desperate situations can be tempted by evil. And it dares to question whether it is better to sacrifice your values in an attempt to negotiate with terrible forces or to silently suffer while placing faith on a false promise of hope. After all, what is the value of morality and principles in the face of such a hopeless situation? The way the characters in the film react to the multiple external threats intentionally contrasts with each other in interesting, thought-provoking ways. 

And like Pan’s Labyrinth and Tigers Are Not Afraid, In My Mother’s Skin also uses a young female protagonist to tell a coming-of-age about growing up in a dangerous world. (Film school student paper topic…anybody?) 

A film like In My Mother’s Skin is not meant to appeal to everyone. The cruel world it presents is a challenge to our sensibility. And Tala’s most redeeming actions come too late.

But if you are a fan of slow-burn adult horror, give it a chance. Like me. you might just find there actually is a point to all its hopeless slaughter.