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- 2005
- TLA Releasing
- 1 h 45 m
- 2005
- TLA Releasing
- 1 h 45 m
SummaryBased on the acclaimed novel by Scott Heim, Mysterious Skin explores the hearts and minds of two very different boys who come to find the key to their future happiness lies in the exorcism of their collective demons. [Tartan Films]
Directed By: Gregg Araki
Written By: Gregg Araki, Scott Heim
- 2005
- TLA Releasing
- 1 h 45 m
- 2005
- TLA Releasing
- 1 h 45 m
Mysterious Skin
74
8.2
My Score
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SummaryBased on the acclaimed novel by Scott Heim, Mysterious Skin explores the hearts and minds of two very different boys who come to find the key to their future happiness lies in the exorcism of their collective demons. [Tartan Films]
Directed By: Gregg Araki
Written By: Gregg Araki, Scott Heim
Where to Watch
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally FavorableBased on 32 Critic Reviews
74
84% Positive
27 Reviews
27 Reviews
13% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
- All Reviews
- Positive Reviews
- Mixed Reviews
- Negative Reviews
Metascore
Generally FavorableBased on 32 Critic Reviews
74
84% Positive
27 Reviews
27 Reviews
13% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
- All Reviews
- Positive Reviews
- Mixed Reviews
- Negative Reviews
This thoughtful, troubling drama is leagues above the sensationalistic stuff Araki peddled in earlier films.
Invigorating, blistering and chilling.
User Score
Universal AcclaimBased on 78 User Ratings
8.2
90% Positive
70 Ratings
70 Ratings
5% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
5% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
- All Reviews
- Positive Reviews
- Mixed Reviews
- Negative Reviews
User Score
Universal AcclaimBased on 78 User Ratings
8.2
90% Positive
70 Ratings
70 Ratings
5% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
5% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
- All Reviews
- Positive Reviews
- Mixed Reviews
- Negative Reviews
People can't face the truth. Araki didn't create the alien idea. It is 0% fictional. Maybe the most incredible story of the last 10 years. The movie is perfect on itself.
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A helter-skelter ride of the soul, an unblinking, white-knuckle crash landing into the mushy mysteries of the subconscious.
A deft, affecting drama about childhood sexual abuse and its lifelong scars.
Mysterious Skin isn't a picture about existential vacancy; it isn't even about anything so simplistic as the horrors of child abuse. It's more of a meditation on the necessity of making your way past, or through, any obstacle that prevents you from being a thinking, feeling person.
A well-conceived story that is very hard to shake.
Had Araki chosen to illuminate, rather than exploit, the traumatic aftermath of child molestation, his wallow in the horrors of Mysterious Skin might have had a purpose. As it stands, his film is just another trashy look at America as the land of imbecilic perverts.
Sad, odd and viscerally beautiful film about the act itself and the aftermath of child molestation. A film about how profoundly such experience can affect the free will, the choices the victims make later in their life and ultimately the constitution of their personality. Is there a lesson to be learned here? With all the uncompromising depiction and dialogue all over the place, i really doubt that. All that you are left with is the wish that you yourself were able to change the past of these poor souls. Trust me, that implausible and irrational wish will linger on you for days just like some mysterious skin.
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It's a story about a wound, and how even when you have repressed it, it's part of your life.I'd heard Mysterious Skin was very strong film, and that it had received an NC-17 rating in the US.I can't deny that it's a painful movie about the aftermath of child sexual abuse, but it didn't seem so extreme to me either.I guess the trauma, and the extent of the trauma was a decisive component in how it could not be assimilated by younger audiences.Quite an impressive work of a fairly young Joseph Gordon-Levitt
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Mysterious Skin is the story of two boys and an event one summer, that changed their lives forever. Both had different reactions to it and both had their whole lives consumed by it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Neil, and does an outstanding job. Neil is a male prostitute, cold and heartless on the outside, but lonely and miserable on the inside. JGL does a great job of portraying both to the audience. Be warned thou, this is one graphic film, not for the faint of heart. There are a lot of raw scenes featuring Neil, in fact, I don't think I've ever seen someone get undressed as many times in one movie as JGL does in this one. As for the film, it starts out strong, then in the middle, it seems like your typical, weird, indie flick. Don't turn it off just yet, because it gets better and better, building up to one of the strongest endings I've seen in a long time. This isn't something that hasn't been done before, but a combination **** cast, top notch acting, and a brutally graphic depiction of events, makes it unique and something that you're going to want to see.
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Production Company
- Antidote Films (I)
- Desperate Pictures
- Fortissimo Films
Release DateMay 6, 2005
Duration1 h 45 m
Genres
TaglineTwo boys. One can't remember. The other can't forget.