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Movies / On DVD / Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin

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Mysterious Skin (2005)

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Reviews Counted:95

Fresh:79

Rotten:16

Average Rating:7.1/10

Consensus: Bold performances and sensitive, spot-on direction make watching this difficult tale of trauma and abuse a thought-provoking, resonant experience.

Rated: 18

Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:20-05-2005

Synopsis: In MYSTERIOUS SKIN, an unlikely director takes on an even more unlikely lead actor and crafts a deeply felt coming-of-age tale that pulsates with the scalding beauty of tragedy. The director, Gregg... In MYSTERIOUS SKIN, an unlikely director takes on an even more unlikely lead actor and crafts a deeply felt coming-of-age tale that pulsates with the scalding beauty of tragedy. The director, Gregg Araki, whose over-the-top gay melodramas have been criticized as largely empty provocations, proves himself here to have great sensitivity. Yet it is the lead actor, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, best known for his work on the alien sitcom THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN, whose unforgettable, nuanced performance makes the film. Based on the novel by Scott Heim, the story follows two teenage boys living in small-town Kansas: Brian (Brady Corbet), a clunky and awkward fellow with no discernable social life; and Neil (Gordon-Levitt), a rebellious gay youth whose fragile beauty and cruel indifference make him a successful hustler to the area's older men. Having suffered from blackouts as a child, Brian believes that these voids were actually alien abductions, and goes on a quest to confirm this. As his memories become increasingly vivid, Brian convinces himself that Neil, the star player on his childhood Little League team and a regular presence in his dreams, knows the truth. Neil does, in fact, know exactly what happened: the boys were sexually abused by their Little League coach. While Brian has suppressed the incident, Neil has held it deep within him like a treasure, considering it to have been a loving relationship of respect and tenderness, the absence of which has left him emotionally empty. The two strands of narrative are braided together elegantly, slowly leading up to a devastating final scene. Araki unifies the stories through an elegiac, celestial tone that manages to avoid preachiness via doses of appropriate humor. MYSTERIOUS SKIN is so profoundly alive with sadness and beauty that it nearly burns. [More]

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet, Michelle Trachtenberg, Jeffrey Licon

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet, Michelle Trachtenberg, Jeffrey Licon, Bill Sage

Director: Gregg Araki

Director: Gregg Araki
Screenwriter: Gregg Araki
Producer: Jeff Levy-Hinte, Mary Jane Skalski
Composer: Harold Budd, Robin Guthrie
Studio: TLA Releasing

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Reviews for Mysterious Skin

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A tough but rewardingly original child abuse drama, centred on Levitt's brave and compelling performance. A rising star for sure.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
06/25/05
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
06/07/05
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]

The only thing Mysterious Skin will do is make yours crawl.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
05/21/05
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Compelling, impressively acted film that is by turns moving and horrifying - one of the year's most controversial films.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
04/02/05
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
04/02/05
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

treads harrowing ground without falling into the pit of cliché

Full Review Source: Old School Reviews | comment Comment
09/15/09
John A. Nesbit
John A. Nesbit
Old School Reviews
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

"Mysterious Skin" is a devastating yet beautiful film that honors its fragile characters with vital respect.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/15/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: CHUD | comment Comment
02/27/09
Devin Faraci
Devin Faraci
CHUD

Even with the numb dialogue and trite characterizations we've come to expect from Araki, Mysterious Skin might have worked with the right actor in the charismatic role of Neil.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
03/01/07
David Noh
David Noh
Film Journal International

a bizarre, beguiling coming-of-age drama

Full Review Source: Perihelion Journal | comment Comment
09/11/06
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Perihelion Journal

This one clearly has more meat on the plate than Araki's earlier more shallow and sensationalistic films.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
07/20/06
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
05/12/06
Jonathan Kiefer
Jonathan Kiefer
Sacramento News & Review

Gregg Araki nous offre son %u0153uvre la plus mature à ce jour.

Full Review Source: Panorama | comment Comment
02/09/06
Jean-François Vandeuren
Jean-François Vandeuren
Panorama

Sensível e tristemente trágico, o filme é um doloroso estudo de personagens beneficiado por uma atuação estupenda de Gordon-Levitt.

comment Comment
01/03/06
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Gordon-Levitt's performance is nothing short of astonishing.

Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
11/28/05
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness

A raw and unadorned look at child abuse and its idiosyncratic repercussions.

Full Review Source: Mixed Reviews | comment Comment
10/30/05
Gabriel Shanks
Gabriel Shanks
Mixed Reviews

Araki has given us his most mature work yet, a fiercely focused yet oddly dreamlike meditation on innocence and loss.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
09/30/05
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Mysterious Skin

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