Mysterious Skin

[Hairy Lime]

Based on recommendations from a couple trusted friends and an Independent Spirit Award nomination for best director, I bumped this film up on my netflix queue. Am I ever glad I did.

Every so often I see a movie on DVD after a short theatrical run and wish I'd seen it in the theater. This is one of those movies. While it's not a big movie, it does have some great framing and I think it would have looked even better on the big screen.

It only played on 19 screens at its widest release so its not surprising I missed it, and given the subject matter I'm not surprised it didn't find more of an audience. Two teenage boys have very different reactions to something that happened to them as kids. One becomes a UFO hunter, the other a gay prostitute. The sex is nearly explicit so Authorized should love it.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt should be a star soon.

Easily in my Top 10 for 2005.

[Pencey]

Re: Mysterious Skin

You're wasting your time, Hairy. The only thing people discuss around here is Kong.

[kintnerboy]

Re: Mysterious Skin

Agreed.


http://scriptsales.com/boards/showthread.php?t=15094

[Hairy Lime]

Re: Mysterious Skin

Mysterious Skin - Every once in a while a young actor takes on a role considered to be risky or daring (I'm thinking of River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho or DiCaprio in Total Eclipse).

What Joseph Gordon Levitt (who knew this guy could act?) does in Mysterious Skin makes those other two films look about as daring as leaving the house without an umbrella.

I imagine that there are some independent filmgoers out there who consider themselves very open minded because they've seen films like Happiness and Bad Education who would squirm in their seats during this one.

Of course it's about a child who was molested by a little league coach who grows up to be a prostitute. There's nothing simplistic here either. The molestation didn't make him grow up gay, he was born that way. And he doesn't come from a bad family, either. In fact, all the characters in this film care about each other a great deal.

The acting in this film is great all around. If Levitt was a girl he would have a busy awards season coming up.

Good stuff, kintner. I saw your thread, but was loathe to draw anyone's attention to even a mildly positive review of Me and You and Everyone We Know.

[J off course]

Re: Mysterious Skin

Araki has been a source of inspiration for me since I saw one
of his early shorts in a gay film festival in the late 80s.
No doubt he is a source of inspiration for many.

I saw this in the cinema. I had been reading about it for
up to a year before it came out. For some reason, it seemed
to take forever to be released even after much publicity had
already come out about it.

I saw that the New York Post movie reviewer had it amongst
the top ten of the year.

The "kid" from third rock is also in "Latter day saints" and
is amazing there too.

[Hairy Lime]

Re: Mysterious Skin

3rd Rock from the Sun! That's where I recognized him from!!!! Thanks, J off course! It was bugging me. When I read his filmography, nothing jumped out at me. I must have missed his TV experience.

[whitenavel]

Re: Mysterious Skin

Good stuff, kintner. I saw your thread, but was loathe to draw anyone's attention to even a mildly positive review of Me and You and Everyone We Know.

Haven't seen "Me and You" but Ebert absolutely raves about it.

As for Myterious Skin, I'll rent it. But Araki has made some piss poor films in his past. Did anyone see Nowhere or The Doom Generation? Almost unwatchable.

[kintnerboy]

Re: Mysterious Skin

Haven't seen "Me and You" but Ebert absolutely raves about it.

As for Myterious Skin, I'll rent it. But Araki has made some piss poor films in his past. Did anyone see Nowhere or The Doom Generation? Almost unwatchable.

I saw Doom Generation. It's awful. Mysterious Skin is not like his previous work at all. I believe it was his first adaptation.

[Pencey]

Re: Mysterious Skin

Mmm...kay, what did I just watch?

Lemme just say this, if you have a problem with Brokeback, then you're really gonna have a problem with this movie. Didn't hate the film but didn't exactly love it either. I guess I liked it although I'm not sure why. It seems disjointed with all the sex scenes going nowhere and in there for shock value only. But I agree that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a good actor and I can see him going places...

P.S.--Did anyone else get a Donnie Darko feel from this story? To me, it seemed to have some similarities.

[Adam Isaac]

Re: Mysterious Skin

Easily in my Top 10 for 2005.

Ah, I'll check it out then. Was going to see this sooner, but there's so many movies on my list of films to see, that I haven't got around to it.

I'll bump it up the list. Sounds solid.

[RBoss]

Re: Mysterious Skin

JGL is one of the reasons Brick looks like it might be good.