"there was nothing we could do"
a review of gregg araki's critically acclaimed coming-of-age feature
*M A J O R spoilers ahead for Mysterious Skin - literally if you plan on watching the movie, do that first then come back
**National Sexual Abuse Hotline: 1-800-656-4673 (it feels right to include this)
Mysterious Skin (2004) has been a movie I’d been wanting to watch for quite a long time. I put it in a category of films that I know I need to watch but am afraid of who I will become after it ends. Some other titles under this label include Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher, Brady Corbet’s Vox Lux, Fernando Meirelles City of God, just to name a few. All of these movies I watched at specific points in my life where I craved artistic revelation, or at the very least something that’ll make me think once the credits roll. Each of the movies I mentioned have since become absolute faves, and truthfully I would give anything to experience any of them in a theater – I had the privilege of seeing The Piano Teacher with one of my best friends at the Metrograph (it was my second time and I almost passed out but it’s still a perfect movie). Now, after my initial watch of Mysterious Skin, I can’t WAAAAAIT to see that on the big screen.
You know what, fuck it – put that shit in IMAX baby.
the tragedy of Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin is a psychological coming-of-age thriller starring young Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brady Corbet (seen above) as teenage boys of separate but similar experiences: both know of each other from little league baseball, while doing so at pinnacle points within their own discoveries of personal sexuality. Each boy deals with their reckonings in different ways, with Neil (Gordon-Levitt) becoming a teenage prostitute and Brian (Corbet) indulging in alien abduction fantasies. In the midst of the beautiful flashing colors and delicious synesthetic soundscapes, we discover that these are long-lasting after effects of being victims of child sexual abuse. While the acts of abuse are never explicitly shown on film, Araki expertly captures the violent discomfort from both boys perspectives that sets us up for the rest of the movie. It’s also important to note that both boys have neglectful parents – Neil has a young and restless single mom and Brady has parents that work too much and are emotionally distant. These factors contribute to the boys overall senses of self. The film ends with Neil and Brady making the connection that they were both abused by the same little league coach, and within that were mutually abused in the same evening by that coach; both had since blocked out the memory. The image above is one of the final stills of the movie as Neil retells the story of that very evening to a deeply distraught Brady, with the camera ascending above them as Neil’s melancholic words ring on. It’s an absolutely devastating visual to an already depressing experience, but there is an undeniable undercurrent of hope that leads us out of the movie and back into reality.
the heartbreak of Mysterious Skin
In the aftermath of the film’s release, psychologists and child psychiatrists lauded Gregg Araki for his portrayal of the long-lasting effects of child sexual abuse, specifically when they go untreated or unspoken. As Neil progresses through the movie with different johns in his podunk Kansas town, his experiences become more dangerous and cautionary with his best friends continuously warning him of potential dangers (beautifully played by young Michelle Tractenburg and Jeff Licon). This culminates into a scene of brutal sexual assault at the hands of a client after he moves to New York City, further traumatizing and sending him into a slight unraveling. On the inverse, Brady indulges deeper within his fantasies of abduction as a means to cope with his nightmares and chronic nosebleeds. In a scene that can only be described as stomach-turning, Brady has an interaction with a dead deer that turns into a psychological trigger. This activates a hidden memory of abuse that causes him to black out. After continuously confiding in his new older woman friend who validates his assumptions about his probable alien abduction, she later attempts to take sexual advantage of Brady and he quickly rebuffs her. In both cases, these are examples of the brain creating scenarios and images as a way to protect themselves from further harm, which is a common survival tactic at the forefront of multiple disorders. For example, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder) is a prime case of the brain protecting itself from the psychological effects of past trauma in the form of splitting into separate alters or “personalities.” Moreover, the majority of reported cases of prolonged childhood sexual abuse are done at the hands of adults who have close personal contact with the victim (source: VictimsofCrime.org). In this case, it was their little league coach. Plus, with Araki and the producers taking extensive steps to protect the child actors from the traumatic themes of the film and going the subtle route of portraying the abuse on camera, it must feel somewhat euphoric for Araki to have his vision not only fully realized but properly analyzed.
I deeply appreciate movies that take unabashed risks to tell the stories of real life that affect people close to us in all walks of life. No matter who you are, we all know at least one person (or are that person) who are affected by issues like the ones shown in Mysterious Skin. It’s up to us to give levity and representation to stories that would otherwise be lost to injustice. I can’t wait to give this another watch.
☆u can find my letterboxd review here☆