Too many fans seem to be blown away

Load of rubbish!!

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

All of the confusion and sadness of childhood trauma and abuse perfectly portrayed. All of the tears and fake half smiles and twisted memories. All of the frustrations. All of the guilt. Everything. And nothing. 'Mysterious Skin' is...it's a really really really strong film. Powerful to the near max. It shook me to my core and I am now practically wordless. To say the least it is not at all a pleasant film, nor is it a perfect film (some of the lesser editing choices did take me out of it every now and then), but it is an important and impactful film that beautifully and disturbingly tells an important and impactful story about so much and so little at the same time. It does not hold back. It says what needs to be said. And that's that.

This film portends to break new ground but falls into exploitative trash within an hour. The first boy as a prepubescent learns gay sex from a coach, then becomes a whoring teen; meanwhile, the second nonsexual boy becomes a weirdo with alien- abduction theories. You can maybe guess the "twist" already! What a waste of time, this shallow and predictable film, bent on a pseudo- intellectual audience. (Gordon-Levitt was a TV sitcom actor for a reason -- he works well in 2 dimensions, not 3! Too bad about his co-star having to ride in the passenger seat.) Extreme poser-lit-as-cinema, promising untold truths yet delivering nothing but the PC police. My guess is that the writer of the novel on which this movie is based was sexually active as a kid and wants to cash in on the latest trend by being a mouthpiece against underage sex and sexuality. An unartistic attempt at metaphor (some cereal/serial and a sexless cow? Pathetic as the snow falling on cold-hearted teens). Skip this piece of propaganda because it's nothing more than an adult saying: do as I say, not as I do. At least the corny director always has a future in kiddy porn... For a serious and fair film with a sardonic sense of humor on this same subject please do watch "L.I.E." instead.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has really been impressing me in many performances and films over the years ("Brick", "Manic", "Looper", "Don Jon", etc..), so I was surprised to find this 2004 film off HULU the other day- that I've never heard of-??"Mysterious Skin" was directed by Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on Scott Heim's 1996 novel of the same name. The film tells the story of two pre-adolescent boys in the 1980s who are sexually abused by their baseball coach (Bill Sage, who I'm sure intentionally resembles a 1970s Robert Redford-??), and how it affects their lives in different ways into their young adulthood. One boy (Gordon-Levitt) becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous male prostitute, while the other (Brady Corbet) retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.This is one of those little films that starts off slow, and you gradually find yourself becoming emotionally involved very heavily with it's two main characters- you begin to see and experience things from their eyes- almost to a scary level-??- so be warned, this movie is not for everyone... Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Lynn Rajskub and a very hot Elisabeth Shue round out the cast.

Admittedly, the source material could offend many people who went unaware, just like me, into this film. I really had no idea what the film was about other than it looked somehow appealing and I'd already watched two Hollywood-fodder-ish films earlier during the day and wanted something perhaps off the beaten track.The subject material is, of course, somewhat disturbing, but after about 40 minutes I chuckled to myself (in that knowing way) because I was really enjoying the film. The pleasure you feel when you have found a little gem that isn't trying to pander to anyone, but has something to say and is just going to say it anyway.As for the people who were offended by the subject material. You can't really address topics like homosexuality or paedophilia without delving into imagery that might offend. I didn't feel, however, that the film attempted to glamorise or encourage such practices. I saw a lot of young people who were having a hard time of it, who were looking for answers, wanted to know why they were so f**ked up about the past, and eventually found out why. Not through fault of their own but because of their upbringing - the absent father, divorced mother or paedophile coach at school that took advantage of little boys.The Director approached things in a light-hearted, free-spirited sort of way that I really enjoyed. Perhaps this was done in an overly frivolous way that offended some people? Perhaps the synopsis about aliens and abductions is misleading, I agree with that, but rotten things do happen to kids and the Director's interpretation of this through kids blocking out the bad memories by supplanting them with something more fantastical, was very clever. Some of the scenes were disgusting, yes, but also very true, funny, shocking and entertaining.Gregg Araki approached it wonderfully and I was really pleased with this film. It reminded me of 'Trainspotting', and in no small part of 'Lilya 4-Ever', which was equally shocking and entertaining, but didn't set out to offend, but to enlighten people who are broad-minded and experienced enough to appreciate gritty film-making.