Skin Flick

Coping with loss isn't easy -- take a look around here, for example, and you'll see that many gay blogs (even up till yesterday) were still reeling about Brokeback Mountain's failure to score the best-picture Oscar. I know that we gays need reassurance on being liked (and what bigger gesture is there than Oscar, proof that they really like us?). I know that it's fucking embarrassing to lose to Crash (it's like losing a beauty pageant to a buck-toothed imbecile who earnestly pleads for world peace during the interview section). I know that a lot of people simply thought it was entirely deserving of Hollywood's top honor a love story "for the ages," humping cowboys or not.

But really, if you're having a hard time coping, if you can't say Brokeback without your voice cracking, if you've been starting sentences with, "Oscar, I swear..." and trailing off, stop. You're being gay.

So Brokeback didn't win -- it didn't receive a cherry on top of its gloppy cinematic sundae that has melted and has gotten all over and between pop culture's cushions. I can't even think of the last movie that's made such an immediate mark on our culture, starting with parodies, small and large (and don't expect them to stop coming -- TV scripts are bound to just be catching up to the events of late 2005, and least-common-denominator satirists like the Wayans brothers and David Zucker are always at least two years and a few chuckles behind whenever they take something on). So, Brokeback has one less trophy to add to the case -- it doesn't even have time to be home to look at its awards, anyway.

I enjoyed Brokeback and I'm not crying for it. It did just fine for everyone involved. What's really sad to me is that Mysterious Skin, another gay (and, even more, queer, which Brokeback really isn't) film that was eligible for Oscar this year was ignored again and again, not just by the Academy, but by critics' associations and audiences (an Independent Spirit Award nomination for director Greg Araki and a few nods from Chlotrudis were as close as it go to formal honors). Granted, its appeal is much more narrow, as it's not exactly a classic tale of unrequited love. It's more specific than that. Epic Brokeback has its gorgeously framed rolling hills and valleys. Meanwhile, Mysterious Skin has Froot Loops.

To me, Mysterious Skin was the most thought-provoking, harrowing and unshakable cinematic experience of 2005. What follows is why.

(Spoilers and a potentially disturbing retelling of events follow -- avoid this post if you haven't seen the film [go rent it, now].)

The thing that strikes me about all the praise lavished on Brokeback is that it often brands the movie as "brave." I understand that that considering its scale (small budget be damned, a major director helmed it and A-list actors appear), it does take risks. Certainly, in a pre-Brokeback world, being a heartthrob like Heath Ledger or Jake Gyllenhaal and signing for a role that effectively thumbs its nose at one of your key demographics (swooning girls) is taking a chance. But even though it includes lube-less, clothed sex and post-coital basking between boys, nothing, nothing in Brokeback can compete with the the brutally honest high that Mysterious Skin hits within its first 10 minutes.

"The summer I was 8-years-old, I came for the first time," we hear in a voiceover as we watch a flashback of the 8-year-old Neil McCormick watching his mother have sex with a guy he's intensely attracted to. Yeah, he's 8. And then, he goes on.

It's not everyday that you see a film in which an 8-year-old is sexualized and gay (what latency period?). In fact, I've never seen it before. Part of it's that it just doesn't happen a lot (though it's absolutely possible to have intense sexual feelings way before puberty is supposed to set in, and Mysterious Skin is based on Scott Heim's (at-least-) semi-autobiographical novel of the same name -- this shit happens). Whereas Greg Araki before often used his audacity, his willingness to go there for jarring, obnoxious exploitation, with Mysterious Skin, he finally has a noble cause for his tactlessness. For Mysterious Skin isn't merely an exploration of young sexuality in extremely blunt terms (though that is a major part of it and surely, a massive reason the movie is so brave). It's an exploration of developing sexuality informed by sexual abuse, which happens first at the hands of "Coach," a brilliantly cast Bill Sage, who's as hot as he is creepy.

But don't take my word for it. Neil's recounting of his first impression of Coach says it best...

"Desire sledgehammered me. He looked like the lifeguards, cowboys and firemen I'd seen in the Playgirls that my mom kept stashed under her bed. Back then, I didn't know what to do with my feelings. They were like a gift I had to open in front of a crowd."

Araki's adaptive genius is compressing these complex zygotes of emotions that young Neil feels, which take up numerous (albeit gorgeous) pages of Heim's novel. If this mutual desire seems to cannibalize the very notion of good taste, great. It's supposed to. There's an adamant refusal to tell Neil's story as a tale of good versus evil, of prey besieged by predator. Sometimes life is more complex than a force of nature.

Make no mistake, though, Coach is predatory.

We don't see it all, but we see enough, bouncing us between the points of view of Coach and Neil. Little by way of editorializing and nothing by way of preaching slips into what's actually happening as we're forced to watch through two sets of eyes we'd probably never want to be behind. All of the tight, subjective POV shots were practical during filming, as well: so as to keep the subject matter veiled from his young actors, Araki had them act into the camera by themselves (the brilliant Chase Ellison above, for example, was probably told to think of something sad, rather then being directed like, "You're being molested. Show me confused discomfort. Show me robbed innocence.").

Araki's refusal to create a hero-villain dynamic at this point shows a great respect for his audience -- he simply won't condescend. Of course molestation is fucked up and devastating. It's the entire reason the movie exists, as the aforementioned events are a springboard for the rest of Neil's character study. Here, there's a fine line between moral ambiguity and emotional complication -- Araki steps up to it and defies anyone who says he can't walk a mean tightrope.

But, uh, just in case there's any question:

That's Neil's friend Wendy, a few years after the Coach incident, reacting to the movie's portrayal of the cycle of abuse in motion (after physically abusing a peer with a bottle rocket, a 10- or 11-year-old Neil promises to make it all better by sexually abusing him). Though brief, this scene is the hardest to watch, as we're smacked with a case of this completely mutated sense of reality. We're as aghast as Wendy to be presented with the way abuse can infiltrate the very logic of a developing mind.

But Neil's story is only half of Mysterious Skin. The other principle character is Brian Lackey, a kid on Neil's baseball team, a sickly kid who can't remember a three-hour span of his life that took place the same summer Neil met Coach.

That's the main mystery of the film, although, you can pretty much figure out what happened from the start, (here's the last spoiler warning I'm giving), as Brian is the introverted counterpoint to Neil's extroversion. Brian, we find out, was also molested by Coach (via Neil, actually) that summer (he represses the memory, where as Neil romanticizes it).

"Your face looked like it had been erased," Neil tells Brian at the film's climax, as he helps Brian reclaim what he'd repressed. It's another example of Mysterious Skin's uniformly devastating acting (this time by George Webster as young Brian) -- is it possible to describe the Webster's expression more accurately?

The story follows the boys through their early 20's as Brian attempts to uncover his past (he's convinced he was abducted by aliens) and Neil takes cues from it as a hustler. Check the juxtaposition:

That's Joseph Gordon-Levitt, by the way, as grown Neil. He's the kid from Third Rock From the Sun. Talk about a courageous role. And talk about courageous direction, as Araki takes someone we knew as an asexual kid and lets him smolder.

Neil's exploits are a lot juicier than the virtually sexless Brian's, but Araki's not afraid to give Brian just as much screen time for his slow-paced ascent to self-discovery.

Brady Corbet, who plays grown Brian, is a cute kid who's wisely hidden behind glasses and drab clothing to make him seem almost entirely asexual.

All of this might seem heavy -- and it should -- but in another act of Araki's that is best described as (you guessed it) courageous, the director cuts tension via a twist of magical realism.

(Brian and his family watch as a UFO flies overhead.)

(Neil and Wendy envision their lives as a movie, and when they pick up a drive-in speaker, only to hear the voice of God, it begins snowing.)

The movie shouldn't be as watchable as it is, considering the subject matter, but Araki again respects his audience by throwing in humor. Neil, for example, shows signs of a good-natured attitude toward sex, all things considered. He grosses out his friend Eric (played by Jeffrey Licon), another town queer.

"I'd fuck him for free," he says about this daddy-type who's playing in a local baseball game for which Neil is the announcer.

He goes on to describe another player as "ass of the gods." Sadly, we never get the chance to witness what's been hyped.

Elsewhere, Neil reveals even more about his taste in men...

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

And, the final outstanding act of courage I'm mentioning is performed by Elisabeth Shue, whose utterly subtle performed deserved, if not an Oscar nod, than some sort of preservationist achievement award for refraining from chewing the scenery.

As Neil's trashy mom, she is flawless and as respectful to the story, to the truth as everyone else. She's the type to drink gin from the bottle and not make a big deal of it. Plus, she looks great, still!

She is the definition of a MILF-WING (Mom I'd Like to Fuck, Were I Not Gay).

In the end, Mysterious Skin doesn't offer any grand, satisfying (or tragically unsatisfying) answers -- Neil and Brian are profoundly affected by their shared past, and neither show any signs of getting over it.

And really, and beautifully, that is that.

It shouldn't be surprising that Mysterious Skin didn't get 1/100th of the attention Brokeback received. It's far too risky, far too disturbing, far too subtle to be appeal to a mainstream audience. But what a shame that is, especially when those open-minded enough to be outraged (or whatever heightened emotional state you muster over pop culture) are spending time worrying about a movie that has the pop-culture permeation that most best-picture winners couldn't even dream of (when was the last time you even thought about Million Dollar Baby or the fucking Return of the King?).

"I wish I could quit you," is a permanent part of our pop-cultural lexicon. It is "Show me the money" writ gay. It's an example of the kind of saturation most art would never even attempt to aspire to. And so, to counterbalance, I'm working "I'd fuck him for free" and "ass of the Gods" into my daily speech. I consider it my duty.

Comments

[Patrice]

Beautifully written, as always Rich. If your goal was to make your readers want to rush out and rent this unseen gem, you've totally achieved that with me. Thanks for broadening my film horizons. (By the way, I have always thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt was hot. Even when he was a stringy-haired teen alien).

[jeremy]

Yeah, my favorite book and movie of last year. I've been an Araki fan forever and I always appreciated the distance he kept from his characters. I liked how when a TV star rapes a girl, there is no emotional connection to her as she stumbles between cars afterward with a bloody nose.
Mysterious Skin took me off-guard a bit because there was SO much Araki in it, but also a weight to the subject matter and an actual narrative arc. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be connected to Neil and Brian, and found quickly that I was invensted in them. Araki has never made a film with any sort of catharsis, yet this film produces an immense emotional payoff. After I saw the film, I had to read the book to be able to separate what was Araki and what was Heim. The cereal was reminiscent of the Barbie cereal in The Living End. Brady Corbett was channeling Nathan Bexton from Nowhere. UFOlogists, homoeroticism, violence. I wasn't sure where the line between film and book was. They are both hugely influential and important works and should be read/viewed by all fags.

[JDR]

you know after reading many of your posts. i think to myself, "id fuck him for free."

[annie]

I saw this movie in the theatre and I absolutely loved it. I'm so glad you took the time to bring this story to your readers.

[tia]

i think of return of the king all the time.

[jeremy]

p.s. the look on Bill Sage's face when he's being fisted is *priceless*

[The NB]

The NB concurs wholeheartedly.

[rod]

multo bravo - do i get bonus cred for having seen it when it first came out?

[Me]

Great post. I saw this movie not too long ago and couldn't look away. It was difficult to watch but definately something i'd never seen.

[Trudy]

It made quite a few critics' personal top ten lists - also, the Indy Award isn't the only place it got a nomination. It's up for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay this weekend at the Chlotrudis Awards.

[Rich]

Thanks for that -- I fixed the post to include the info.

[kelly]

hey. I look at your blog for the cats & ANTM posts (which are better than watching the show) but had to comment on your Brokeback/Crash comparison. Absolutely hilarious and right on. Also right on regarding Mysterious Skin..this film lingered in my mind like nothing else I saw this year and I wanted to talk about it constantly.
The British Film Institute critics put it at #5 with Brokeback #1; here's their year end list with introduction:

www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49257

and an article on Mysterious Skin & queer cinema:

www.bfi.org.uk/education/coursesevents/talkscourses/filmjournalism/articles/queer.html

you might be interesed in reading both. thanks!

[t kitty]

i got to see this film at the film festival here in seattle, and damn, that gregg araki is hot! also, it should be mentioned that brady corbett is a real life fag! and hot!

more cerebrally: scott heim (author of the novel) tracks the film's progress on his sweetly personal blog:
www.heim.etherweave.com/weblog/index.html

[John]

That Joseph Gordeon Levitt didn't win an acting nomination from the Independent Spirit folks is appalling. While I'm never going to look at deer the same way way again, any movie that uses Sigur Ros to such powerful effect deserves a rave.

[Marie]

Oooh, I love the MILF-WING thing. If I send you a photo, will you tell me if I'm MILF-WING material?

(Better yet, will you lie just to make me happy if I'm not?) ;D

[Mara]

i never even heard of this movie, it looks really good tho, might have to check it out...but have to disagree with you about brokeback, it wasn't the most deserving for an oscar win, none of the nominees were actually, but thats the oscars for you

[Gayest Neil]

Incredible. Only 16 comments! This is a freakin' beautiful film. I wept at Two Boots Pizza as Bryce and I ate lunch after seeing this movie. I wept for the beauty of it and the painfulness of it.

Insipid ANTM gets 230,492,340,923 comments a day (well deserved...but c'mon) and this brilliant post about a brilliant film gets blah from the readers...

Four shame fourfournatics, four shame!
(did I just coin "fourfournatic"?)

Anyways - about this movie, yeah Rich, you summed it up so succinctly regarding the Coach. He's so sexy, but so predatory at the same time. He has that blond hair, little tight moustache thing going... He actually looks alot like my pee wee football coach - (yes who I had a tremendous crush on as a kid.)

And Elizabeth Shue was indeed incredible. The movie wasn't about the mom. Neil's life wasn't about his mom either, or vice versa. Her subtle (but still loving) performance was spot on.

And Chloe from 24 is hilarious and tragic too. Oh what a great movie.

So much about Mysterious Skin rang true to me. Being a gay teen (also sexually informed by abuse) living in a small town with a single mom.

The movie really affected me and this was a great post worthy of a great movie. I'm so proud and pleased you took the time to write this Rich.

[starstattoo]

"Part of it's that it just doesn't happen a lot (though it's absolutely possible to have intense sexual feelings way before puberty is supposed to set in..."

This is actually common in molested kids.

Another great book, about a girl victimized by mom's boyfriend, is 'Bastard Out of Carolina', which also includes this sexualization of a prepubescent, even how the victim becomes a sexual aggressor, too.

[scott]

I love you. This blog entry has shoved a permanent shining light into my heart forever. Thanx.

[juliet]

Rich! Have you seen "Bad Education"? I thought that it came out around the same time as this movie. More gay themes for your pleasure.

[Foxy]

Mysterious Skin was Araki's first real adult movie, and it was wonderful. If you had told me ten years ago that Araki was going to make quite possibly the best film of 2005, I would have asked you to pass the bong. But...he just may have. It's a gorgeous, uncomfortable, thought (and boner) provoking film.

[JH]

I am now very anxious to see this. Previous reviews I've read of it were purposefully vague, so I assumed it was just another dysfunctional family/ coming out film. Looks like I have some catching up to do.

[pepper]

Just watched it based on your recommendation, Rich. Thanks--such a tough experience, but well worth the discomfort. The final scene destroyed me.

[pepper]

Oh, one other thing. We never find out what happened to Brian on Halloween two years later, though he says that he thinks the coach was there that night, too. Just a question I had after the movie was over...

You realize you have an ad running on your site that boasts the headline, "Brokeback Rocco"? It is accompanied by a tasteful shot of a man in heels and handcuffs bending over. It's like they did it just to illustrate your point.