Mysterious Skin

Mysterious Skin (2005) is about two young men abused as children by the same man, who remember it in completely different ways. Brian remembers nothing. There is a five hour gap and he explains it as an alien abduction; the nosebleeds, the nightmares and the missing time lead him there. For years he has been reading abduction accounts, looking for a case like his. Neil remembers everything and does not call it abuse. He remembers it as the only period anyone paid attention to him, and at seventeen he begins going with men for money. In his own account there is no wound, only a habit. What the film does is set the two side by side: one has turned the trauma into a myth, the other into a way of living. They do not know each other for most of the film. They meet in the final section and Brian learns what happened. That scene is staged as though in one take and is among the hardest confessions in cinema. It is adapted from Scott Heim's novel. Gregg Araki directed. Joseph Gordon-Levitt moved out of television comedy with this part. When working with the child actors the scenes were shot separately without the context being shown, and their families were present throughout; the production stated this openly. Its release was blocked for a period in New Zealand and caused argument. It runs 99 minutes. Good for: hard independent cinema, narratives about trauma, and performance. Less good for: child abuse is the direct subject and the film does not soften it; it is heavy for most viewers.