Mysterious Skin

Mysterious Skin marks Gregg Araki’s latest exploration of misspent youth, and while the film is likely one of his more straight-forward efforts, the whole thing just feels flat somehow. The story revolves around two seemingly different kids who grow up in the same town; Neil (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) becomes a gay hustler, while Brian (Brady Corbet) is convinced he was abducted by aliens twice during his childhood. It’s really not as weird as it sounds, and Araki does a nice job of setting up both characters (it doesn’t hurt that Gordon-Levitt and Corbet are very effective in their respective roles). But this doesn’t change the fact that the film isn’t all that interesting – something that’s particularly frustrating given that there’s nothing outwardly wrong with the movie (ie it’s well directed, written, etc). Part of the problem is that this is the sort of thing we’ve seen so many times before, particularly from Araki – though even Gordon-Levitt has explored this sort of territory in Manic. Still, the movie never becomes completely unwatchable – undoubtedly a step in the right direction for Araki.

** out of ****