Mysterious Skin

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 5/20/05 at 3:27pm

Beav - I lived in a small town in Kansas in the early 80's. I must see it.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 5/20/05 at 3:34pm

Wow, and I was abducted by aliens in the early 80's! I must see it, too!
Seriously, I am glad you liked it. Araki's early work showed great promise and a wonderful eye. I am happy to hear he has matured a bit and look forward to this film.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/20/05 at 3:37pm

I read this book when it came out a few years ago and was blown away by the writing. It's exciting to hear that such a difficult subject has been done well by a filmmaker.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/20/05 at 3:43pm

This is getting great advance press - especially for Mr. Gordon-Levitt's performance. I'm very much looking forward to it.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 5/20/05 at 3:51pm

It's playing at SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival) in a couple of weeks. I'm going to have to try to score tix. I've heard great things about Joseph Gordon-Leavitt.

[shira467]

Posted: 5/20/05 at 3:52pm

I really do want to see it.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 5/20/05 at 4:13pm

Actually Sueleen - I think there is a character in there you will be able to identify with instantly.

Hooker with a heart of gold? Or the teenaged hustler?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/20/05 at 4:15pm

Yes, yes yes, but I'm a shallow homo: Is there much skin in Skin???

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/20/05 at 5:29pm

Darn it, if Araki can't get JGL's pants off, what's the point!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 10:07am

I finally caught up with this film this weekend and was much impressed. Despite my dismissive comment earlier, I am actually able to appreciate a fine film and I thought Araki did a great job with this. There were a few odd plot points that I was a bit puzzled by and I'm curious what folks thought would happen after the movie ended.

I'm not a fan of Araki's work, but I thought this was by far his best. I do want to echo it can be VERY disturbing-- I thought the abuse scenes (While shot to avoid traumatizing the young actors) were really unsettling-- not for more sensitve viewers as they say.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 10:16am

It's a brilliant brilliant brilliant film. A very faithful adaptation of an amazing book with top notch performances (almost) all round.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 2:07pm

Saw this film a few weeks ago. Absolutely touching. In so very many ways. Gordon-Levitt is giving a very breakout-quality performance here...and, Beaverhausen, I continue to also be haunted by that final sequence, just knowing what's going through each boy's head, what has happened to them up until that point. Wow.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 2:14pm

I was so upset I missed it at SIFF... it conflicted with an audition. I'd even bought the ticket. My friend that went in my place really liked it. It's supposed to open this weekend somewhere around town.

Award Results at SIFF:

"The best director honors went to the United States' Gregg Araki, whose handling of the gay-themed sex-abuse drama "Mysterious Skin" beat out England's Sally Potter ("Yes"), Denmark's Susanne Bier ("Brothers"), Hong Kong's Wong Kar-wai ("2046") and South Korea's Kim Ki-duk ("3-Iron").

"Mysterious Skin" also won the best actor award for its star Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who topped a field of finalists who included the United States' Peter Sarsgaard ("The Dying Gaul"), France's Mathieu Amalric ("Kings and Queen") and Iran's Parviz Parastui ("The Lizard")."

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 2:18pm

Gordon-Levitt is much better known for his series regular gig on Third Rock From the Sun, although he was very funny on Roseanne.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 2:33pm

Beaver that final image was one of the things that got my mind wandering-- I wonder if Brian would really be so comforted by Neil, especially since it seemed to me that Neil was almost a co-conspiritor in the abuse.

The boys both seem so damaged, I wondered if I could ever imagine either of them whole again. I agree that the ending seemed very "upbeat" compared to the rest of the film, but I'm not sure that we should be so optimistic.

I think it's the mark of a great film, however, when questions like this can linger.

[midtowngym]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 3:26pm

Mysterious Skin is disturbing, cring-inducing, honest, painful, gripping, terrifying, sad and ultimately beautiful. I didn't enjoy sitting through it, but i'm glad i saw it. I needed a cocktail immediately upon leaving the theater.

Updated On: 6/13/05 at 03:26 PM

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 5:46pm

It's on DVD now. I haven't had a chance to rent it yet though.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 5:48pm

I did--and it was stunning.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 5:51pm

disappointed at the lack of extras though.

[broadway86]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 6:12pm

I loved this movie. It was extremely powerful. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was excellent, as was Brady Corbet. In fact, everyone was good.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 6:14pm

And JGL was FREAKING HOT, as well.

[otis33]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 6:24pm

I LOVE this movie. I had the chance to see it over the summer a few times at different film festivals. The direction/editing are absolutely brilliant. I thought the way they handle certain touchy (no pun intended) situations were done with such taste and style...especially since they were dealing with young boys. Great film!

[broadway86]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 6:27pm

Otis-

You brought up something else that I loved about the movie. There's some extremely tough subject matter here, but it was handled with an unbelievable amount of maturity and grace.

[otis33]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 6:30pm

Yes, handled with maturity and grace...but STILL horrifying! I didn't realize the DVD was out. I'll have to pick it up.

[DG]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 12:37am

I finally saw this tonight.

I would be ever so obliged if someone could tell me what they thought Mr. Araki's point was?

Thanks.