Sadly, I've never read the novel this film is based on, but I can't see how it
can be anything short of a masterpiece because this film
is a masterpiece.
Opening with the
slow-motion shot of Fruit Loops falling on the face of a smiling boy, we're next
introduced to Brian, a teenager who recounts how as a small boy he lost several
hours of his life due to being kidnapped by aliens at a baseball game and was
then found later bleeding in a closet of his house. Now as a teenager he's
fascinated by aliens. Next is Neil, he's the same age as Brian but a world apart
as far as personalities go. He tells us how, at age 8, he used to jack off
watching his mother with her various boyfriends and lust over the men in her
Playboy magazines. Then he met Coach. Coach was the handsome coach of the boy's
baseball team and he had a mustache that was so manly and awesome that it could
tame an army of a thousand purring kittens. At first sight, Neil was in love
with him. Soon after he allowed himself to be seduced by Coach. Then came
Brian.
From the very beginning of the film you know what happened, but the script and
the acting by everybody (especially by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Chase Ellison)
is so strong that even after multiple viewings I still find myself almost
hypnotized by the screen. Neil is now a male prostitute and secure in his
homosexuality and molestation as a child. He even has pictures and recordings of
the events. Brian though is living in a complete dream world and he's broken. He
cannot function in reality. Obsessing endlessly over aliens, he thinks more and
more about the events leading up to the abduction when he suddenly remembers
there was another boy there, but he can't remember who he was. He decides to
find out this boy was.
MYSTERIOUS SKIN isn't for everybody's tastes. It's vile at moments and perverse,
but how can it not be with such a sickening subject matter? In fact, I wish it
had gone even further. That aside, everything about this film is fantastic. The
script, the acting, the tone, pace, cinematography, direction. Even days after
my latest viewing I still find myself thinking about it and how brilliantly the
story was told. MYSTERIOUS SKIN could almost be compared to
RASHOMON
in it's differing accounts of a shared event. Honestly, I cannot recommend it
enough.
Double feature it with
SHAME.
