Popular reviews

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  Review by Cole ★★★★★ 4

  This movie is beautiful, captivating, fascinating, moving, powerful and an absolute masterpiece.

  And I will never watch it again.

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  Review by karsten ★★★★★ 12

  So violent and so innocent. I honestly can’t remember if Araki had this many shots of characters looking directly into the camera in his other work but that choice is working stronger than ever here. What I really appreciate about this is how he’s capturing the manipulation in all forms of abuse. His use of shoegaze also does so much as far as romanticizing not these specific events but adolescence. I just felt very close to Neil by the end, as though I was one of those little moons orbiting around him. I'll never forget about this movie.

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  Review by Logan Kenny ★★★★★ 2

  “I wished with all my heart that we could just leave this world behind, rise like two angels in the night and magically disappear”

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  Review by Jay ★★★★★ 12

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  Trailer

  This film is tough. This film is really, really tough. Ignore for a moment that it deals with child abuse, teenage prostitution, rape and the empty futility of a life wasted, and consider the core message itself: that trauma is unavoidable, that one day we’re all going to suffer some sort of tragedy and that, no matter how we attempt to deal with that tragedy, it will always be there, shaping our lives and dragging us back into the past. It’s one of those unspoken truths that is so simultaneously terrifying and crushing, and one that it is very hard to effectively capture via the medium of film, that it’s a true testament to all involved that Mysterious Skin…

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  Review by amanda :( ★★★★★ 1

  strange how the greatest movies make you want to die.

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  Review by asher ★★★★½ 1

  this is a flawless film. but don't watch it.

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  Review by Austin Lord ★★★★★ 94

  Hey everyone, this is likely the most personal review I’ll ever write, and one of the toughest reviews I’ve ever written and shared with people. I’m going to share something that I’ve never shared with anyone, how I am inextricably linked to this film.

  When I was a child, I was sexually abused. I don’t have a lot of recollection of the event since I was only 5 or 6, but it very much so happened and this film has brought up memories that I’ve been repressing for so long. The first time I saw this, I related so much to one of the main characters, Brian, and I didn’t understand why, until these memories resurfaced shortly after watching.

  When…

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  Review by Milez Das (Rohit Shivdas) ★★★★★ 8

  I am sitting her shaking and shivering, crying. I don't think I can sleep tonight. I am stunned and shocked. TWO BOYS. ONE CAN’T REMEMBER. THE OTHER CAN’T FORGET.

  Mysterious Skin crushed me into pieces, broke me. JGL gives one of his best performance here. The final 10 minutes....

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  Review by IHE ★★½ 92

  I like most of how it is shot: close, intimate and uncomfortable. It’s unflinching attempt to accurately depict the horrors of the subject matter, and the psychological results it can have on a person, are noble to say the least. However the majority of performances (especially from every child actor) are tremendously awkward and mostly unconvincing, with the talented actors being hindered by the corny on the nose dialogue. There are a couple of solid, well executed dramatic scenes that I thought worked well. Unfortunately for me though, the hokey writing and mixed acting really pulled down what could have been a pretty powerful story. 

  It’s not surprising that the film was edited on final cut, it’s not particularly cinematic,…

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  Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★½ 7

  lacerations, lesions,
  blunt force & bruises;
  trauma is timelessness.

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  Review by joshhh ★★★★½

  “I want to dream about something else for a change.”

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  Review by Andre de Nervaux ★★★★½ 2

  JGL gives one of the most underrated performances possibly ever in this film.