Mysterious Skin

In Gregg Araki’s most accomplished and arguably most accessible film to date, we’re introduced to 8-yr old Brian (Corbet) who falls out of consciousness but comes round to find his nose is bleeding, he’s in the basement of his house and he can’t remember the goings-on of the last 5 hours.

Almost simultaneously we’re introduced to Neil (Gordon-Levitt), a local 8 yr old sports star who has been abused by his coach (Bill Sage). This being an unusual but tragic rites of passage tale, we follow their progress into teenagers. Brian tries to piece together the actions of the trauma from the basement and finding himself befriended by a lonely girl into UFOs. Neil becomes an open hustler who because of his upbringing and the fact that he has been the subject of abuse, lives in a world of degradation without a moral safety net. He’s up for anything as a male hustler and gets exposed to plenty of seedy worthless encounters.

Eventually the two will meet and a story from the past will begin to lose its murkiness. Araki’s adaptation of Scott Heim’s novel is a worthy one. This won’t be to everyone’s taste, not everyone will want to see a film about gay childhood abuse but you feel for these boys and the denouement is heartrending. Araki can always be relied upon to be both brave and provocative and to visit areas and confront topics that others would shy away from. Mysterious Skin is of course rough around the edges but it still packs a punch and one senses that this is Araki’s coming of age film in a way, this is the powerful exposé film set in a fictional setting that he’s always wanted to make. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brady Corbet are both good in the lead roles.

Matt Arnoldi