:
Brady Corbet,
Brady Corbet,
Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
more...
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Gregg Araki,
Gregg Araki
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: Tartan Video
: Drama, Gay & Lesbian, Coming of Age , Features
: English
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This title is currently out of print.
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Two young men are haunted by similar events from their past, though the effects manifest themselves in very different ways, in this powerful drama from independent filmmaker Gregg Araki. In the summer of 1981, Brian (George Webster) and Neil (Chase Ellison) are both eight years old and playing on the same little league baseball team in a small Kansas town. One day, after a game, Brian blacks out after getting caught in a rainstorm, and five hours later he finds himself sitting in his basement with his nose bleeding and no memory of what happened to him. Over the years, the event -- particularly the missing five hours -- weigh heavily on his mind, and he becomes convinced that he was kidnapped by space aliens. Teenaged Brian (now played by Brady Corbet) becomes friends with Avalyn Friesen (Mary Lynn Rajskub), a woman who claims to have been abducted by aliens on several occasions, and she urges him to look to his dreams for patterns that might suggest what happened to him. Meanwhile, during the same summer, Neil developed a powerful crush on their little league coach (Bill Sage), who appeared to have also taken a shine to Neil. Neil's mother (Elisabeth Shue), seeing nothing wrong with their friendship, lets the coach look after Neil while she's off on one of her many dates, and before long Neil begins sexually experimenting with the older man. Neil's introduction to sex inspires him to become a hustler when he grows into his teens, and after burning his bridges in his hometown, Neil (now played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his close friend Wendy (Michelle Trachtenberg) move to New York, where he continues to cruise for a living but under significantly more risky circumstances. One day, Neil is contacted by Brian, who after seeing one of their team photos from their days in little league suspects he might have some clues as to what happened to him in 1981. Mysterious Skin was based on the novel by Scott Heim, and marked the first time Gregg Araki made a film that did not originate with one of his own screenplays. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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| Sex itself is Mysterious
by HNewman
July 30, 2007 - 1:04 PM PDT
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0 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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| Mysterious Skin breaks new ground with its marvelous & sensitive depiction of the rebounding affects of those who have experienced the tragedy of child molestation. Sex too early, any kind of sex, is bound to affect children and then the adults they become in profound ways. This is not a gay or straight issue; all children who are manipulated into this kind of exchange before they have the maturity to make their own decision, are victims. . . some survive and learn to lead productive healthy sexual lives, some do not. It's monstrous that adults often look at children, including their own, as objects rather than complicated individuals. Individual sexuality is always a complicated issue, made worse by the actions of adults who themselves were often victims of early sexual abuse. Having said this, the film itself is brilliantly cast & acted. Joseph Gordon-Levitt deserves all the accolades possible for his performanace, as does Araki for his direction. |
| Mysterious, and So Much More
by talltale
November 7, 2005 - 8:20 AM PST
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10 out of 11 members found this review helpful
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Gregg Araki goes partial mainstream with MYSTERIOUS SKIN, in terms of style, content, and accessibility to plot and characters. What most definitely is not mainstream is this director's insistence on transgression. He gives us sex from the viewpoint of a child predator, and actually turns us on in the process. This is truly shocking. The sex scenes seem as truthful as any I have seen, and yet there is nothing hard- or even soft-core here, and very little nudity. But the moment to moment intimacies--the pink shade that white skin turns when turned-on, the joy and surprise that someone who's been passive suddenly discovers when he turns active--all this and more is shown as I have never seen it.
Although many reviews were extremely positive, the box-office was remarkably small, so this must mean that audiences still cannot deal with gay sex (not to mention the mention the predatory nature of what is shown here). Too bad, because Araki has given us an amazing character study of two young men, what they experience as children and who they become. The performances are breathtaking, particularly that of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the stronger of the two young men. James Dean is his heyday did not compare with what Gordon- Levitt achieves here.
Araki does not stint on showing us the damage done by the predator, so claims that this movie is immoral strike me as vapid. The ending is particularly strong, culminating in a visual and verbal moment that is near-perfect. Time will reveal whether Mysterious Skin is a classic; for now it is certainly not to be missed. |
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