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Film

Indie flicks: Compelling artistry, unnerving action

By STEVE PERSALL
Published August 18, 2005

Mysterious Skin (R) (99 min.) - Gregg Araki's film is almost too disturbing to think about long enough to realize how good it is. Whoever remains in theaters when this defiantly explicit drama ends will understand. The problem is that Araki's film is so in-your-face with themes of homosexual pedophilia, rough sex and violence that repulsed gasps may drown out his worthwhile intent.

Mysterious Skin is based on Scott Heim's semi-autobiographical novel, set in Kansas. Even there, grown men cruise city parks seeking underage sex, teenagers are drugged nihilists and parents are too self-absorbed to notice.

The saddest victim - although he'd deny that description - is Neil McCormick (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), whose seduction by his youth baseball coach has led to dangerous promiscuity for profit. Mysterious Skin is set in an era when AIDS was still considered someone else's problem. Neil's encounters with johns are presented as tastefully as such perversity allows, and that still leaves them harrowing.

In a parallel story, Brian Lackey (Brady Corbet) is the same age. He doesn't know Neil - at least, not that he can recall. Brian believes he was abducted by aliens as a child. All he knows is that hours are missing from his memory and recurring nose bleeds and dizzy spells have lingered.

We can guess there's some connection between Neil and Brian, especially when another character, goth slacker Eric (Jeff Licon) becomes a social conduit. That doesn't diminish the sledgehammer effect when Araki reveals the link. Only then does Mysterious Skin begin to take shape as a daring, moving outrage against child sexual abuse. Until then, thinking that Mysterious Skin is exploitive would be understandable.

I wondered while viewing Araki's film if the filmmaker was actually doing a disservice to gay culture with his movie. Mysterious Skin occasionally seems to reinforce bigoted perceptions of homosexuals, especially the hysterical notion that they're all stalking children. The ending erased my misgivings. But we must wonder how many disgusted moviegoers will leave the theater long before that. Araki may have gone too far - it wouldn't be the first time, after The Doom Generation and The Living End - for his movie's good.

Many viewers will be entranced by Araki's maturing cinematic style, weaving dreamy flashbacks and harsh realities into his most polished effort yet. The performances are all superb, with Gordon-Levitt's especially revelatory. Neil is a galaxy away from his television work on 3rd Rock from the Sun, yet he proves himself as a bold actor, not only for the simulated sexual acts but the deep-rooted desperation of his character. Neil is unsavory, but there's always a sense in Gordon-Levitt's portrayal that he's salvageable. Grade: B-plus

[Last modified August 17, 2005, 12:53:06]