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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene where Brian (age 8) is in the bathtub and his mom tells him to hold his nose to dunk his face under the water it is filmed in reverse so that it appears that his face is under the water at the end of the scene. George Webster is actually dunking the back of his head into the water. The film is then reversed so that at the end of the scene you are actually seeing the beginning of the shot with his face outside the water. This is a trick used by Gregg Araki to get an impossible "underwater" shot.

---

Goofs

When Neil and Wendy are sitting in front of the drive-in theater listening to the speaker, Wendy's hair is in ponytails. After some snow, her hair style turns to a normal cut and the ponytails are gone. In the next shot they return.

---

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.

---

Crazy Credits

The movie title is displayed at the start of the film (at 0:01:56) spaced out as M-YS-TERIOUS S-K-I-N.

---

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.

---

Connections

References Communion (1989)

---

Soundtracks

Away in a Manger
Traditional lyrics, tune attributed variously to William J. Kirkpatrick (uncredited) or James Murray (uncredited)
Performed by Tom Meredith, Cydney Neal, Arlo Levin and Isaiah Tefilo (as Isaiah Tefilo)

User Reviews

A Masterpiece

Araki has abandoned the nihilistic day-glo world of L.A teens to create his first truly great film. Indeed, by any standards, this film is magnificent. It follows two boys; one of whom was abused as a child and the other who believes that he was abducted by aliens' from childhood to their troubled later lives. The film has a visual beauty that pulls the viewer in even though the subject matter is both difficult and painful. The director pulls no punches in confronting the viewer with the horror of the situation but neither does he exploit it for tabloid style sensationalism. From the superb performances, the excellent and intelligent script, through to the inspired direction and stunning 'shoegazer' soundtrack this is a splendid film. I left the cinema deeply moved by what I had seen and can now only hope that Araki continues to work at this level of quality. Something quite special and a work of art

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