re:mote voices

Title: Mysterious Skin
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet, Elisabeth Shue, Michelle Trachtenberg, Bill Sage, Jeff Licon, Mary Lynn Rajskub
Director: Gregg Araki

Mysterious Skin follows the life of two boys in small town Kansas. Going from the age of 8 to 18. At the age of 8 both boys play baseball with a local team. But from there their lives diverge, such that they have little contact with each other over the years that follow. Brian (Corbet) is bespectacled and bookish, and grows up to believe that aliens have on several occasions abducted him. Neil (Gordon-Levitt) has decided he is gay at an early age, and grows up to be a hustler, involved in increasingly risky sex.

Thus we get an illustration of how different two people's lives can become. Mysterious Skin is based on the novel by Scott Heim and is set between 1981 and 1991. The fact that the film sticks with that period is perhaps curious, it isn't entirely necessary for the material, but is presumably in keeping with the novel.

Cast wise this is a departure from the last time I saw most of these people. Gordon-Levitt most obviously has been in the TV series 3rd Rock From The Sun, though has been in films like 10 Things I Hate About You - here he has much edgier part than either of those previous roles. A similar thing can be said for Michelle Trachtenberg, sure Euro Trip was more risqu� than Buffy, but it was not that far removed from the likes of 10 Things. By contrast Brady Corbett was the insufferable super kid in the recent film version of Thunderbirds, so he goes from action hero to geeky and awkward.

As a film this is something of a departure for director Gregg Araki. Though to be fair, I've only seen two of the 10 or so films that he has done. Comparing Mysterious Skin to Doom Generation and Nowhere there are thematic similarities. Angsty teens, coming of age issues, and punk undertones. But while those earlier films are chaotic and nihilistic, this is a more solid and mature endeavour.