Tribeca Shorts: ‘Poreless’ Takes Beauty Standards to Task

Who wouldn’t want flawless skin? That enviable mug that turns everyone’s head and has people asking, ‘How does their skin look that good?’ Blemishes be gone with the right filters, but what would you pay to have a natural product that promises to snatch your skin so hard that you look as good in person as you do on Instagram? In Harris Doran’s quick-witted short, Poreless, a pair of siblings comes to the rescue and teaches how true confidence comes from owning your identity.

Akbar Hamid stares down the camera as Akram, a beauty entrpreneur hoping to take his product, Poreless, to the next level by being selected by Beauty by Beauté. How could they pass it up? It’s airbrush in a jar! Akram’s mostly black-and-white reel would make Kate Moss jealous that she missed her audition, and the commercial is chock full of inspirational phrases like, ‘Bring out the beauty…in you.’ After showing his spot to his friend Ruby, she is confused as to why Akram doesn’t embrace that he is Muslim and gay in pitch. “I’m Matt Bomer gay,” he says. “Not Liberace gay!” When Ruby points out that Akram may have been selected as a diversity finalist, he tries to not let it shake him.

After an unfortunate incident with an almond-laced smoothie, Akram is unable to make his next pitch appointment in front of Beauty by Beauté’s team, a quartet of white girls who are afraid of saying the wrong thing or putting the company on blast for being racially insensitive. Doran’s film even shows us how we hold up these standards like when Akram sees the Beauté executives strut in the room. They automatically default to slow motion, the music swelling, their blonde hair wafting about. When Akram desperately brings in his brother and sister (played by and Parvesh Cheena and Sureni Weerasekera) to help, he realizes that we sometimes have to remind ourselves that our differences are our biggest strengths.

Doran directs with a brisk pace that centers us in the absurdity. After all, we are in the realm of beauty, and that could make anyone question their self-worth. There is a parade of face masks that should be seen to be appreciated, and a reference to the Dune films that will make you howl. Hamid spends a lot of time staring at us, and we can see his natural beauty and charisma from the first frame.

You can bring out the you in you with products if they make you feel better, but sometimes the easiest way to get a jolt of appreciation is looking at youself in the mirror and realizing your worth.

Poreless plays at Tribeca on June 11, 14, and 15. You can click here for ticket information.