Brian Lackey (Brady Corbet) is an 18 year-old introvert who has recurring nightmares of his childhood and thinks he may have been the victim of an alien abduction. Neil McCormick
(Joseph Gordon Levitt) on the other hand is a gorgeous teenage
rent-boy ready to leave his small town Hutchinson, Kansas for a more
jaded and dangerous life in New York City.
Gregg Araki's first adaptation, "Mysterious Skin" (IMDb listing), is based on Scott
Heim's critically acclaimed novel of the same title. Less devastating
than the novel, the film depicts a challenging subject matter
with an aesthetically mind-bending and vivid style. In contrast to
the story, which is dark and unsettling, the cinematography is as lush
and beautiful as cotton candy. Araki incorporates icons of suburban
childhood -- colorful cereals, Halloween costumes and
Polaroids -- in his portrayal of two children being molested by their
Little League baseball coach.
With a loving mother, (Elisabeth Shue) who is negligent enough to have
sex with her boyfriend in the backyard, young Neil perceives his
Little League coach's (Bill Sage) interest in him as love. Brian, on the other hand, completely suppresses his experiences
with the coach and believes those hours of mystery to be due to an
alien abduction. Neil experiments with strange men to satisfy his
curiosity in sex, careless in his choices, while Brian searches for an
explanation to his lost childhood memories. Eleven years later
Brian turns up at Neil's door.
Neil's voyage introduces a homophobic gay monster, an
AIDS patient in need of affection and men who can't have sex without
drugs. All these encounters are portrayed with starkness and deliver
heightened emotion. Joseph Gordon Levitt's performance is stunning. He
conveys Neil's character with subtlety, demonstrating Neil's
affliction with his actions and his eyes. Brady Corbet is equally
adept in portraying Brian, delivering a distress and innocence that makes the viewer want to take care of him.
"Mysterious Skin" is less outrageous than Araki's former films. It is
a film about child abuse more so than it is about homosexuality. The
story is heartbreaking, the acting is brilliant and the cinematography
is breathtaking. Araki takes a dark subject and illustrates it
with an absolute aesthetic splendor that pulls the viewer in and
shocks them even more when they realize what is happening. Perhaps
that is what makes the film as visceral as it is. "Mysterious Skin" is
not for everyone, but it surely is one of the most powerful and moving
films of the last few years.
Filmfodder Grade: A
