MYSTERIOUS SKIN

By Cole Smithey

Hack child exploitation filmmakers like Todd Solondz (“Palindromes”) or Larry Clark (“Kids”) should quake in their boots.

Gregg Araki returns to directing after a five-year absence to deliver an understated masterpiece of modern LGBT cinema that tackles the subject of pedophilia in a deeply personal and dramatically persuasive way without pretense or cliché.

“Mysterious Skin” is a sophisticated, innovative, and honest cinematic rendering of a troubling story about the different trajectory of two boys molested by their Little League baseball coach (Bill Sage) in Hutchinson, Kansas. The film was adapted from Scott Heim’s 1995 novel of the same name.

Brian Lackey (Brady Corbet) is an 18-year-old teenager obsessed by the belief that he was abducted by aliens when he was 8-years-old. Araki uses simple but effective visual embellishments to put the audience inside Brian’s developing psychology via expressionistic dream sequences. As a young adult, Brian is plagued with recurring nightmares about a five-hour period that he can’t account for because he has so successfully blocked it out of his conscious mind. 

Brian looks to the companionship of fellow UFO-believer Avalyn Friesen (Mary Lynn Rajskub) to help piece together shards of their memories that might fill in essential blanks. They are on a shared journey for resolution to the traumas they’ve suffered. Recovery seems possible. The discovery of a Little League team photo links Brian to Neil McCormick (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). The two boys eventually unite on a joint goal of discovery that releases the truth of their shared molestation by their baseball coach. 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives an awe-inspiring portrayal as McCormick, an emotionally traumatized pedophilia victim who turns to prostitution to work through his inner and external conflicts. Gordon-Levitt’s fearless performance meets a challenging role and tames it.

Gregg Araki liberally uses his camera to subjectively build the story from the viewpoint of the boys, with an emphasis on Neil’s character as the more knowledgeable, and more self-destructive, victim of adult sexual abuse.

Araki, the perceptive filmmaker, allows spontaneous humor to disrupt the movie beneath a bright visual canvas that balances the narrative’s dark moments of sexual betrayal.

From its unobtrusive use of voice-over narration to its balancing of documentary and surreal cinematic style, “Mysterious Skin” takes the audience on a disturbing passage that an unknown number of American children have suffered.

“Mysterious Skin” is a devastating yet beautiful film that honors its fragile characters with imperative respect, and love.

Rated R. 99 mins.