Two boys.
One can't remember.
The other can't forget.
When he was eight, Brian Lackey woke up in the crawlspace beneath his Kansas home with his nose bleeding, having no idea how he got there. After that, his life is different – he’s afraid of the dark, wets the bed and is plagued by terrible nightmares. Now eighteen, Brian believes he was abducted by a UFO.
Neil McCormick is the ultimate beautiful outsider, the boy everyone loves from afar but is afraid of when they get too close. Also eighteen, Neil longs for the relationship he shared with his Little League coach when he was eight years old.
Neil’s search for what he thinks is love leads him to New York City. Brian’s search for what happened to him leads him to Neil. Together they come to realize that the events that shaped them most were not what they seemed to be.
Based on the acclaimed novel by Scott Heim, MYSTERIOUS SKIN puts us inside the hearts and minds of two very different boys living very different lives who maybe aren’t as different as they first appear.
Special Features:
* Audio Commentary with Director Gregg Araki
* Book Reading with Actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brady Corbett
Review
Though the subject matter of Mysterious Skin is as sensational as that of Gregg Araki's other films (such as Totally F***ked Up, The Doom Generation, or The Living End), his direction is richer and more multilayered than ever before. Two Kansas teenagers named Neil (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 10 Things I Hate About You) and Brian (Brady Corbett, Thirteen) share a childhood trauma--but their responses are radically different: Neil hustles tricks, while Brady, who can't remember what happened, believes he was abducted by aliens and left with "missing time." As both try to make sense of their lives and Brian struggles to find out the truth, Mysterious Skin builds to an emotional pitch that some viewers will find uncomfortable and others will find liberating. The characters of Neil and Brian have a fullness that lifts Mysterious Skin above most examinations of sexual abuse and trauma. Gordon-Levitt has been deservedly praised by the critics, but the entire cast--which also includes Bill Sage (Simple Men), Elizabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas), Michelle Trachtenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and Mary Lynn Rajskub (24)--turns in superb performances. A striking and powerful movie. --Bret Fetzer
