Mysterious Skin

Welcome back, Gregg Araki! In the early 1990s, Araki was the bold leader of New Queer Cinema with films like Totally F***ed Up. After a few less striking films, there is now Mysterious Skin (based on the widely praised book by Scott Heim), that can be counted among his most gripping work. Araki approached the subject – child abuse – the way it should be done: with bravura and without seeking easy answers. In the classic American setting of Huntington, Kansas, the film follows two kids. The first is the shy Brady, who is convinced that his five-hour memory loss after a baseball game at the age of eight was caused by being abducted by aliens from outer space. The other is Neil, a handsome and promiscuous kid with a fuck-you attitude who was on the same baseball team at the time, but who hasn’t seen Brady since. The obsessed Brady makes contact with the handicapped farmer’s daughter Avalyn, who claims she has been abducted many times and who encourages him to look in his dreams for the missing pieces of the puzzle. That leads Brady to Neil, who is meanwhile earning his living providing services to older men. He thinks his life is pointless, but sees himself as invulnerable. He decides to rent himself out in much more dangerous surroundings. When both kids meet again, the film approaches its inescapable climax. (GT)