Runtime: 105 harrowing minutes
Directed by: Gregg Araki
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet, Michelle Trachtenberg (RIP), Elisabeth Shue, Bill Sage
From: A few different independent studios
A belated RIP to Michelle Trachtenberg. My apologies for not tipping my cap to her several months earlier; understand that it seemed appropriate to see a highly regarded movie she had a prominent role in, yet it was from a controversial filmmaker I hadn’t seen anything from before and even before stumbling upon a huge spoiler, the reviews here described “a tough watch” without elaborating upon as to why.
Recently, I found out why; besides “YIKES,” it solidified the belief that “the right time” needed to be selected to view a movie revolving around difficult, “the horrors of real life” topics. Furthermore, it is appropriate for Pride Month as one of the lead characters is an out homosexual, and many homosexual activities are shown w/ an unflinching view.
As for Trachtenberg, unfortunately I never saw any of her TV work and in cinema, only the bad Black Christmas remake and the truly repulsive Cop Out. There were rumors as to why she passed away-the revelation that it was due to complications of diabetes-but that may have been a side effect of her liver transplant… it raised even more questions but of course it’s none of my business what health maladies she suffered from late in life—it is heartbreaking that she passed away at the age of 39.
Concerning Mysterious Skin… like many of you have proclaimed, it’s possible the film will never be seen again by me. The viewer is introduced to Brian Lackey and Neil McCormick as children; the former blacked out one day (he couldn’t account for 5 full hours) then later saw a UFO one night. The latter… that is the spoiler I heard; thus, I’m not too upset by hearing it—what happened to Neil was of course extremely upsetting. My hope is that no one reading this has ever dealt with such trauma but the odds suggest it is possible—while there’s been other sorts of trauma in my life, that specifically, no.
Neil as an adult (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is sexually promiscuous while Brian (future Oscar-nominated director Brady Corbet) is obsessed w/ UFO’s. The journey that both take separately from each other is followed. I won’t reveal the rest of this voyage; thus, I’ll note that the performances from the cast were at least fine and usually were good to very good: Gordon-Levitt, Corbet, Michelle T., Elisabeth Shue, Mary Lynn Rajskub, etc. A critical asset: the ethereal score and a soundtrack that matched it.
Hearsay tells me that the film is accurate in expressing the opinions & feelings of those that survived the trauma depicted; in my mind it is a justification for how blunt and uncomfortable Mysterious Skin is, especially in the denouement. It’s an effective film that stands a good chance of never being viewed by me ever again. Notwithstanding, I was still glad to have tackled a highly-rated picture, view something highly-rated from Michelle Trachtenberg, and eventually I’ll review a second motion picture from Gregg Araki.
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