September 8, 2005
By Patrick Compton
Rating: (9)
Cinema Nouveau, Gateway
Paedophilia is a subject to freeze the heart, and some might feel there is no acceptable way of capturing it on film.
When I went into the cinema to see Mysterious Skin, my heart was full of dread as I prepared for the inevitable white-knuckle ride. After all, the sexual abuse of children by adults hardly seems a fitting topic for the cinema, and it's a subject that is very easy to dramatically miscalculate.
The surprisingly good news, however, is that director Gregg Araki has adapted Scott Heim's controversial novel with such skill, sensitivity and (dare one say it) lyricism, that he shines an unwavering moral light on the subject.
Don't get me wrong, this is a tough, often distressing film about the ruinous effect a paedophile has on the lives of two youngsters (the movie's 18 age restriction is well deserved), but its ethical focus never strays.
The two boys are Neil McCormick (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Brian Lackey (Brady Corbet) who are abused when they are eight years old by their Little League baseball coach.
The former, who already recognises that he is gay, grows up to become a male prostitute; the latter, more obviously traumatised by the event, develops a nose bleed and falls unconscious to the ground every time he comes close to confronting the reality of what happened to him.
Brian develops a way-out theory about being abducted by aliens as he battles to recall the "five lost hours" of his childhood
. Gradually, painfully, he edges closer to the truth as he becomes an adolescent, eventually remembering Neil and meeting up with him after many years.
Neil, meanwhile, has become a rent boy in his small Kansas town.
Emotionally crippled, he nevertheless develops two friendships with Wendy (Michelle Trachtenberg) and Eric (Jeff Licon).
Eventually he moves to New York, where he continues his life as a prostitute. There are some disturbing scenes in this context as the dangers of this lifestyle become painfully apparent.
The ripple effect of the initial abuse is brutally documented, but there is no danger of the film humanising the monster: the action is seen exclusively from the point of view of the boys as they struggle through the emotional wreckage of their lives.
The ensemble acting is uniformly superb and the script presents a richly realised human tableau of the good, the bad and the very ugly.
Special mention must go to Gordon-Levitt, who gives a heartbreakingly powerful performance as Neil.
A dead ringer for Keanu Reeves, the young actor brilliantly embodies a boy whose ability to function as a normal, emotional being has nearly been destroyed, but who has poignant intimations of the unviolated child he used to be.
Mysterious Skin is a tough trip, but its keen understanding of a desperately difficult subject will reward those who are strong enough to see it.
  
 
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