DocFest: A Skin Too Few

We'll admit, with a bit of shame, that the first time we became aware of Nick Drake, it was during a lame commercial for the VW Cabrio. Except, the commercial wasn't lame because the song in it was so awesome. We didn't buy a Cabrio, but we did buy some Nick Drake CDs, and that's pretty much the only thing we've ever been thankful to Volkswagen for.

Nick Drake is the subject of Jeroen Berkvens's short documentary A Skin Too Few, which is playing the DocFest this week, and he's a tough guy to make a film about. He put out three records in his short career, only toured once, briefly, and was apparently never filmed or videotaped while performing. So the film does its best to create a portrait of a troubled young man through the power of his music, and through interviews with his actress sister Gabrielle Drake, as well as some of the folks who worked with him. What you end up with is a movie that's less document, and more of an impression, with lots of his songs playing over images of the wind blowing through the trees around the estate he grew up on. His songs are so powerful that it almost, almost works. Don't see this movie if you want to learn all the facts there are about Nick Drake, but do see it if you're already a fan and want a brief glimpse into the world that influenced him.

A Skin Too Few screens again at 5 p.m. tonight at the Roxie and on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m.