Skin Flick

Not long ago, I wrote about This Film Is Not Yet Rated, a documentary looking at film ratings, particularly the dreaded NC-17 that basically ensures no one will ever see your movie. In the course of watching the documentary, I found out about a handful of films that seemed like they could be interesting; wouldn't you know it, the NC-17 rating had indeed made certain that I'd never heard of them.

One such film was Mysterious Skin, an usual movie that might sound almost like an off-kilter comedy on paper, but deals with decidedly serious subject matter. The film revolves around two teenage boys, each with a profound, life-altering experience in their childhoods. One is a promiscuous gay teen, who experienced his first sexual awakening at an uncomfortably young age when he watched a couple from his bedroom window. (You can imagine that gave the MPAA ratings board a conniption.) The other is a repressed and straight-laced kid who experienced several hours of missing time, and comes to believe he was abducted by aliens.

See? Sex and alien abduction could easily make for a comedy, right? But no, the film instead revolves around how each kid is uniquely scarred today by the events of their past, and how one's quest for answers leads him to the other.

Starring as these two teens are an actor you've likely not heard of, and one you almost certainly have: Brady Corbet and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Both are strong in their respective roles, and are the main reason to watch the movie. The supporting cast has some bright spots in too, including Michelle Trachtenberg, Elisabeth Shue, and Mary Lynn Rajskub (balancing the serious and the funny as she did so well on 24).

The writing is more of a mixed bag, though. It has some profound points to make, and there are several tense scenes. But it's also an incredibly predictable story. You'll know exactly where the movie's headed in the first 20 minutes or less. And to me it feels like the writer thought this would be a big secret or surprise; otherwise the script could have focused less on the destination and more on the journey.

Overall, I'd rate the movie a B. It's an uncomfortable squirmy kind of film that most people would not be interested in watching. But if you like powerful acting (particularly from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is quite different here than anything else in which he has appeared), you might want to give it a shot.