Mysterious Skin (2004)

A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.

Director:

Gregg Araki

Writers:

Gregg Araki (screenplay), Scott Heim (novel)

Stars:

Brady Corbet, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elisabeth Shue

5 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chase Ellison	...	Neil (age 8)
George Webster	...	Brian (age 8)
Rachael Nastassja Kraft	...	Deborah (age 12) (as Rachael Kraft)
Lisa Long	...	Mrs. Lackey
Chris Mulkey	...	Mr. Lackey
Elisabeth Shue	...	Mrs. McCormick
David Lee Smith	...	Alfred
Bill Sage	...	Coach
Riley McGuire	...	Wendy (age 11)
Ryan Stenzel	...	Stephen Zepherelli
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	Neil
Richard Riehle	...	Charlie
Michelle Trachtenberg	...	Wendy
Brady Corbet	...	Brian
Larry Marko	...	Old man with scar

Storyline

Brian Lackey is determined to discover what happened during an amnesia blackout when he was eight years old, and then later woke with a bloody nose. He believes he was abducted by aliens, and N. McCormick, a fellow player on Brian's childhood baseball team, may be the key as to exactly what happened that night. As Brian searches for the truth and tries to track him down, Neil McCormick takes up hustling and moves to New York, in attempts to forget childhood memories that haunt him. Together, the two of them uncover the terrible truth of the scars they share.

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Plot Keywords:

gay male prostitute | male hustler | loss of innocence | man boy relationship | homosexual rape | 

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Taglines:

Two boys. One can't remember. The other can't forget.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

On the 3/20/2006 "Unrated Director's Edition" Strand Releasing DVD, when the viewer selects to play the movie, a blue tinted 6 second clip from the film (at 1:35:42) of 8-year-old Neil saying "Here we go" plays before the movie actually begins. The movie starts with text on a white background.

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Goofs

From the exterior, the curtains on the two windows where Neil and Brian enter the house appear different. The interior curtains match.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Brian: [narration voice-over] The summer I was 8 years old, five hours disappeared from my life. Five hours. Lost. Gone without a trace.
Brian: [narration voice-over] Last thing I remember I was sitting on the bench at my Little League game. It started to rain. What happened after that remains a pitch black void.

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Crazy Credits

The Dead Next Door (1989) Film Clip Courtesy of Amsco Studios/Tempe Entertainment

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Alternate Versions

The 2005 film reviews generally list a 99 minute run-time. The British Board of Film Classification, bbfc.co.uk, rated the uncut 105m 19s film as 18 on 5/20/2005. The 3/20/2006 "Unrated Director's Edition" Strand Releasing DVD has a 104m 59s run-time, but its case lists a 99m length; it is also anamorphic 853x479 pixels format (1.78:1 aspect) but the case lists Letterboxed. The Internet Movie Database technical specifications list a 107 min Sundance Channel Library Print, but on Sundance.com Sundance TV lists a 105 minutes run-time.

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Connections

Featured in 2006 Glitter Awards (2006)

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Soundtracks

Drive Blind
Written by Steve Queralt, Mark Gardener, Loz Colbert, Andy Bell
Performed by Ride
Courtesy of Sire Records, Ride, Ignition Records
By Arrangement with Warner Strategic Marketing
Used by permission of BMG Songs Inc. o/b/o BMG Music Publishing Ltd. and Damaged Pop Music Ltd.,
Warner/Chappell Music Ltd. & Creation Songs Ltd. Administered by WB Music Corp.

User Reviews

Neil: "I wished with all my heart we could just leave this world behind. Rise like two angels in the night and magically disappear. "

Mysterious Skin (2004) directed by Gregg Araki is powerful, shocking and absolutely convincing in every detail movie about two teenagers that were deeply affected by the events of one long hot summer of their childhood; events that one of them could not forget and the other desperately tried to remember. Ten years later, their lives could not be more different - Neil (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has became a gay hustler, cynical, manipulative but charismatic, while Brian (Brady Corbet), nervous and shy believes that he was abducted by the aliens for some strange experiments.

The film like this requires very good performances from all cast members and it's got them from everybody but Gordon-Levitt is simply the shining star and I'll make sure from now on to check out all his new movies.

Details

Country:

USA Netherlands

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 June 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mysterious Skin

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$17,425, 8 May 2005

Gross USA:

$713,240

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,532,932

Company Credits

Production Co:

Antidote Films (I), Desperate Pictures, Fortissimo Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min 107 min (Sundance Channel Library Print)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1