Mysterious Skin: "The summer I was 8 years old, five hours disappeared from my life" (Mysterious Skin (DVD))

Member Name: joncarey9

Product:	Mysterious Skin (DVD)
Date:	19/08/09 (91 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent dealling with a challenging issue, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's performance

Disadvantages: Extremely dark content

Mysterious Skin is a 2005 mystery drama from independent gay cinema pioneer Gregg Araki. Based on the novel of the same name by writer Scott Heim, the film follows the lives of two young victims of child abuse in small town America.

I had never heard of Mysterious Skin or even its director Araki until recently, when it was recommended to me and spoken of very highly. I decided to check it out and went into it knowing very little of the plot apart from the basic premise. Mysterious Skin has really blown me away, it's a film which dares to push the boundaries of what is acceptable to show in a film and does it in a utterly beautiful way.

The film deals with the ultra sensitive topic of child abuse and paedophilia, and the effects it has on its victims. Neil McCormick (Chase Ellison/Joseph Gorden-Levitt) and Brian Lackey (George Webster/Brady Corbet) are just eight years old when they are sexually abused by their little league baseball coach. The incident affects the boy's lives in very different ways, as the films tag line puts it "Two boys. One can't remember. The other can't forget."

Mysterious Skins is daring, disturbing and in some places nothing but beautiful. The final scene in particular is filmmaking at its very finest, the sort of stuff which will stay with you a very long time. There are things in the film which will shock you into turning away and others which almost sadden you to tears.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt performance as the now grown up Neil is haunting. You've seen the cause and now you're witnessing the effect, this is a character on a downhill spiral and watching his life and choices be influenced because of what happened to him as a child is traumatic.

I love how the director (or I suppose more correctly the writer of the book) show how different people deal with extreme situations. The juxtaposition between letting it all out and suppressing it to the very core is brilliant and something which holds Mysterious Skin together.

Mysterious Skin is a hard film to watch; it deals with extremely disgusting issues and isn't going to be for everyone. That being said although the content to harsh nothing graphic is actually shown on screen. The director instead opts to show up reaction shots in the form of close up of faces, instead of wide shots of what is actually happening in the scene, and for me this makes it even more haunting.

Mysterious Skin is a complex and emotionally draining experience which doesn't attempt to give any answers to these disturbing visuals. The movie deals with challenging issues in homosexuality and child abuse, and due to its strong storytelling will keep you trying to work out (even though it's pretty clear) what has happened right to the end.

Main Characters include;
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Neil McCormick
Brady Corbet as Brian Lackey
Michelle Trachtenberg as Wendy
Jeff Licon as Eric
Mary Lynn Rajskub as Avalyn Friesen
Elisabeth Shue as Mrs. McCormick
Chase Ellison as 8-year-old Neil McCormick
George Webster as 8-year-old Brian Lackey
Bill Sage as Coach

Release Date: 20th May 2005 (UK)
Runtime: 99 minutes
Rating: 18

Summary: Mysterious Skin is a complex and emotionally draining experience which tackles a diffcult subject