Gregg Araki's MYSTERIOUS SKIN
That has to be said first: the movie is NC-17 for a reason. It's got rape, pedophilia (not 'I like feisty sixteen-year-olds' kind, it's even bigger, badder 'cute eight-year-olds make me hot' type) and gay sex in abundance. You can't stand any of the above on screen, stay away from 'Mysterious Skin'. Though you'll surely miss a great movie.
This should be the moment when I shout enthusiastic praises about the plot, cinematography, acting and all things in general you need for a good film. I won't. It's not that 'Mysterious Skin' doesn't deserve them because it seriously does. It's just that I really didn't pay that much attention. I simply couldn't concentrate enough to notice something about these elements other than 'they were there'. Why?
Because when Joseph Gordon-Levitt appeared on screen all my higher mental functions suddenly made a hasty retreat without even collecting the wounded on their way. I should have felt betrayed but, frankly, all I was capable to do was gape and drool. He looks mind-blowing. He didn't look this good in 'Latter Days'. Sure, he was hot then too but the position of a resident pretty boy was already filled with Wes Ramsey and his part was quite small. Now he's this über-sexy, though slightly too skinny, heavenly creature that practically everyone else is in love with, including, sadly, me. Well, he's actually a disaffected gay hustler with alarming ignorance about safe sex and taste for older, not particularly attractive men. I don't care, he's divine.
Let's talk more seriously. I lied. Ok, exaggerated a lot. As god-like as Joseph Gordon-Levitt is, I did notice the plot, too. It's hard not to. The movie deals with some disconcerting, extremely uncomfortable issues. What is a great credit to the director, they're shown in a subtle, graceful way. Gregg Araki doesn't just beat us in the head with them. He doesn't condemn anyone nor does he make any excuses for the characters. Well, the rapist is a definitely gross person, but the whole rape scene seemed inevitable from nearly the very start (I know how dreadful and cold it sounds, I do NOT condone rape in any form, I simply saw it coming). It's completely different with the Little League Coach who turns out to be a pedophile. The fact that he's portrayed as a kind, gentle man is bone-chilling.
Pedophilia is actually the main focus of the movie. Everything two main characters do appears to originate in the abuse they suffered when they were eight. For one of them the experience was so frightful he blacked it out completely from his memory and only begins to remember it ten years later. The other seems unperturbed by it but in the end he discovers that it had much greater influence on him that he ever thought. The final sequence is so harrowing that even I wasn't left untouched and I think of myself as a pretty cynical audience.
'Mysterious Skin' is a painful film. Be prepared.
.
This should be the moment when I shout enthusiastic praises about the plot, cinematography, acting and all things in general you need for a good film. I won't. It's not that 'Mysterious Skin' doesn't deserve them because it seriously does. It's just that I really didn't pay that much attention. I simply couldn't concentrate enough to notice something about these elements other than 'they were there'. Why?
Because when Joseph Gordon-Levitt appeared on screen all my higher mental functions suddenly made a hasty retreat without even collecting the wounded on their way. I should have felt betrayed but, frankly, all I was capable to do was gape and drool. He looks mind-blowing. He didn't look this good in 'Latter Days'. Sure, he was hot then too but the position of a resident pretty boy was already filled with Wes Ramsey and his part was quite small. Now he's this über-sexy, though slightly too skinny, heavenly creature that practically everyone else is in love with, including, sadly, me. Well, he's actually a disaffected gay hustler with alarming ignorance about safe sex and taste for older, not particularly attractive men. I don't care, he's divine.
Let's talk more seriously. I lied. Ok, exaggerated a lot. As god-like as Joseph Gordon-Levitt is, I did notice the plot, too. It's hard not to. The movie deals with some disconcerting, extremely uncomfortable issues. What is a great credit to the director, they're shown in a subtle, graceful way. Gregg Araki doesn't just beat us in the head with them. He doesn't condemn anyone nor does he make any excuses for the characters. Well, the rapist is a definitely gross person, but the whole rape scene seemed inevitable from nearly the very start (I know how dreadful and cold it sounds, I do NOT condone rape in any form, I simply saw it coming). It's completely different with the Little League Coach who turns out to be a pedophile. The fact that he's portrayed as a kind, gentle man is bone-chilling.
Pedophilia is actually the main focus of the movie. Everything two main characters do appears to originate in the abuse they suffered when they were eight. For one of them the experience was so frightful he blacked it out completely from his memory and only begins to remember it ten years later. The other seems unperturbed by it but in the end he discovers that it had much greater influence on him that he ever thought. The final sequence is so harrowing that even I wasn't left untouched and I think of myself as a pretty cynical audience.
'Mysterious Skin' is a painful film. Be prepared.
.