Replace is a 2019 sci-fi drama about a woman’s skin, that starts to age rapidly, dry out and crumble away before she discovers that she can replace it with somebody else’s.
Kia Mabon (Rebecca Forsythe) begins the night in the company of a new lover, Jonas (Sean Knopp), following him home. All is good, truly clicking with a possible new romance. Next morning though, she wakes in an empty bed, no sign of him, and so begins her walk home, suddenly realizing she’s deeply confused, ending up going in a circle and back to the apartment she just left, which now is apparently her place, looking like she’s been there for years. There’s no Jonas, she now has a daughter, and finds that her skin is flaking off. However, when her best friend Sophia (Lucie Aron) stops by, she soon discovers that the last part can be fixed. It’s just that to do so means taking the skin off somebody else.
Director and co-writer Norbert Keil‘s ethereal nightmare Replace is a curious little diversion in the independent sci-fi genre, saturated in hazy lights, odd dialogue, disturbing imagery, and experimental sounds. Heavily so. From the opening moments, Keil establishes a moody sense of displacement where people don’t seem entirely authentic, as if everyone on screen is unsure how humans work, the way they move and talk leaving this like a kind of wispy dream of the macabre. The title alone opens a huge door to possible answers why.
You’re probably thinking this some aggressively modelled thriller loaded with blood and guts, more so convinced it clings to an old school practical effects mentality of gruesome body horror, and sure, there are hints of that all through this, but Keil and co-writer Richard Stanley are more interested in the complexities of such a premise than the shock of it. Kia’s deprecating skin and the methods of repair get plenty of screen time, made icky by the sound it makes when she peels it off, but this is far more psychological than physical. People do a lot more talking than cutting I’m saying.
The film embracing its science, where we meet Dr. Rafaela Crober (Barbara Crampton), who offers some exposition, but this is far more suited to its mystery as Kia deals with both a body and mind that seem to be crumbling when a solution to her decomposition means finding victims. Forsythe has a lot on her shoulders, being in nearly every scene and burdened with making Kia’s odyssey compelling. Fortunately, she is every bit watchable, playing into the vulnerability of Kia’s condition and the menace that comes with curing it. She and the other women at the heart of this go in all the way. There’s also an underlying layer of social commentary about beauty and youth but it’s not developed as richly as the premise feels built to supply.
Replace is a dark story and Keil sinks right into the abyss of it. Heavy themes and loaded questions press on much of it. However, it stretches to a breaking point and while the first two acts are genuinely gripping, it devolves a bit at is progresses, tracking us back to some obvious endpoints that sap some of the tension and originality. This leaves it teetering but never toppling, making this a sure bet for fans of fleshy thinkers. Recommended.