Mysterious skin (2014) film review - a harrowing portrayal of abuse

★★★★☆

‘Mysterious Skin’ is an indie coming-of-age film that follows the lives of two boys as they navigate the repercussions of childhood trauma.

Director: Gregg Araki. Starring: Joseph Gordan-Levitt, Brady Corbet, Michelle Trachtenberg, Jeff Licon, Bill Sage. 18 cert, 105 min.

I watched this film over a week ago and I still can’t get it out of my head. Based on the 1995 novel by Scott Heim with the same name, ‘Mysterious Skin’ is an indie coming-of-age film that follows the lives of two boys as they navigate the repercussions of childhood trauma. Neil and Brian were both sexually abused by their Little League coach at a young age and grow up suffering the heartbreaking consequences. However, where Neil turns to prostitution, Brian struggles to comprehend what took place, believing instead that he was the victim of alien abduction. ‘Mysterious Skin’ is a harrowing portrayal of sexual abuse and its long-term effects which is at once incredibly touching and understated. 

Mysterious Skin (2014) film poster artwork

‘I hate it when they look like Tarzan and sound like Jane.’

Directed by Gregg Araki, ‘Mysterious Skin’ is surprisingly perceptive and never exploitative. In my opinion, the most powerful aspect of this film is its ability to address a sensitive subject matter in a way which is never overtly explicit. Instead, ‘Mysterious Skin’ relies on its raw, damaged characters to relay its powerful message. It portrays how trauma forces children to grow up too fast, or, in the case of Brian, makes them unable to grow up at all. 

Neil, played by Joseph Gordan-Levitt, is fearless, rebellious, and unapologetic. Though very aware of what he went through, he appears to downplay it as he engages in acts of prostitution with older men. When sitting in a bar with his friend Eric, a man tries to buy him a drink, and Neil crudely rejects him. ‘I hate it when they look like Tarzan and sound like Jane,’ he explains. Neil’s pursuit of men who resemble his abuser is clear evidence of the damage his childhood abuse has caused. Araki presents this in a way which makes Neil’s actions understandable, and, as a result, incredibly upsetting. 

Joseph Gordan-Levitt, Jeff Licon, and Michelle Trachtenberg in ‘Mysterious Skin’ (2014)

‘Mysterious Skin’ shows us that real life can be far crueler than fiction

Both boys in the film are evidently haunted by what has happened to them. Brian, played by Brady Corbet, suffers from frequent nosebleeds, blackouts and even bedwetting. Unable to remember what took place, he is engaged in an obsessive search to find out the truth behind the instances of abuse. Brian is able to relate to stories on tv about alien abductions and develops a strange friendship with a woman called Avalyn, who claims she was taken by aliens as a child. As viewers, we know that the true nature of Brian’s childhood is more distressing than he can imagine. This makes his struggle to find explanations in otherworldly happenings particularly moving, as ‘Mysterious Skin’ shows us that real life can be far crueler than fiction. 

Warning: contains spoilers. Araki’s work shows the two different lives of abuse victims with very different coping mechanisms. However, Brian and Neil are tied together by their shared experiences. Through a series of flashbacks and investigations into what happened, Brian is eventually able to track Neil down for answers, believing that he, too, was abducted by aliens. Meanwhile, Neil has gone through a traumatic journey of his own. After reverting back to prostitution as a way of making money, there follows an incredibly distressing scene where he is ruthlessly beaten and raped by a sadistic customer in New York. Where the abuse suffered by the younger Neil in ‘Mysterious Skin’ is presented through a lens of child-like innocence, this scene is shocking, gritty, and violent. It is a painful reminder of the formative, lifelong impact the film’s characters will suffer. 

‘I wished with all my heart that we could just leave this world behind. Rise like two angels in the night and magically... disappear.’

The soundtrack of ‘Mysterious Skin’ was created by Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie and includes songs by Slowdive and Ride. With a sound very similar to the Cocteau Twins, it is incredibly understated, just like the rest of this relatively low-budget indie film; but still manages to be remarkably emotive. This emotion reaches a devastating climax when Neil takes Brian to their former abuser’s house in order to explain what really happened to him. Christmas carols play in the background as the two boys share a moment of heart-rending intimacy, with Brian finally able to uncover the truth behind his trauma. This is followed by the end scene of the film, which contains a beautifully delivered narrative monologue by Neil: 

‘And as we sat there listening to the carollers, I wanted to tell Brian it was over now and everything would be okay. But that was a lie, plus, I couldn't speak anyway. I wish there was some way for us to go back and undo the past. But there wasn't. There was nothing we could do. So I just stayed silent and trying to telepathically communicate how sorry I was about what had happened. And I thought of all the grief and sadness and fucked up suffering in the world, and it made me want to escape. I wished with all my heart that we could just leave this world behind. Rise like two angels in the night and magically... disappear.’ 

Should you watch this before you die?

Overall, ‘Mysterious Skin’ is a masterful, sensitive portrait of childhood abuse which is both heartbreaking and understanding. Araki does a great job of contrasting a sense of innocence and naïveté with the brutal, hard to swallow reality of his film’s characters. There is a lot of passion and thought in this film, and Joseph Gordan-Levitt's portrayal of Neil is delivered flawlessly. 'Mysterious Skin’ isn’t just another sad film, but one which will stay with you forever.