Mysterious Skin (2004)'s comments

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thaisquisito

quote:
And I thought of all the grief and sadness and fucked up suffering in the world, and it made me want to escape. I wished with all my heart that we could just leave this world behind. Rise like two angels in the night and magically... disappear.

11 years 3 months ago

Two young boys are sexually abused and have very different reactions to that trauma in Mysterious Skin, one becoming a teen prostitute (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the other blocking those memories and replacing them with a UFO experience (Brady Corbet). The twin narratives only eventually intersect, but what holds the film together is a sense of the fantastical, kids having re-framed their experience into something meaningful to them, whether that's disturbingly couched in happy memories of the events, or completely transformed into an alternate one. Both are escapes, and even the audience may get lulled into that security - I mean, I doubt there is a more beautiful film about pedophilia, and the beautification operated by the children's point of view is more shocking than the rougher, tougher parts of their adult lives. The film lets the job of judging the characters and what is or is not a result of trauma to the audience. It, itself, feels absolutely honest to the characters' perspective. Director Gregg Araki gives us something here that feels wholly original and thought-provoking.

3 years 5 months ago

xrobin87x

Just as captivating as disturbing. Good direction

11 years 3 months ago

Priodah

Oh God this movie, .it's beautiful, disturbing and so sad at the same time....also the acting it's amazing.

11 years 9 months ago

Wargasm

8/10, would not watch with my dad again.

8 years 10 months ago

Rigters

An incredible but disturbing idea made this a great movie. The strong performances, mainly from Levitt, also helped very much to the quality of this movie.

10 years 9 months ago

BadFluffy

Very disturbing yet ultimately very human movie. The performances are incredible.

11 years 6 months ago

Joschi

Devasting and depressing.

11 years 10 months ago

flosula

most beautiful film, everything is perfect. The subject matter is so awful, but so well done. Araki is a genius, and Joseph gordon-levitt is gorgeous in this film! I love both the film and the book.

12 years 11 months ago

Adamov10

I had to look away on some scenes.

6 years 8 months ago

GremVendetta

This movie is brutal in its honesty, and the acting pulls it off so well.

The best scene has to be the poor bloke with AIDs who only wanted to be touched. It shows the reality of sexually transmitted diseases if you're not too careful. Really made me reflect.

7 years 5 months ago