Mysterious Skin

2004 Directed by Gregg Araki

Two boys. One can't remember. The other can't forget.

A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Brady Corbet Michelle Trachtenberg Jeffrey Licon Mary Lynn Rajskub David Lee Smith Elisabeth Shue Chase Ellison Billy Drago Chris Mulkey Richard Riehle Bill Sage Riley McGuire Ryan Stenzel Larry Marko Clover Bruno Alexander Forrest Fountain Zane Huett Reedy Gibbs David Alan Graf John Ganun Kelly Kruger Pete Kasper Joan Blair Gwenne Hudson

Alternative Titles

Загадочная кожа, Mysterious Skin - Unter die Haut, 神秘肌膚, Oscura inocencia (Piel misteriosa)

drama

108 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Cole Bradley ★★★★★ 4

This movie is beautiful, captivating, fascinating, moving, powerful and an absolute masterpiece.
And I will never watch it again.
Review by Karsten Runquist ★★★★★ 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.
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…
Review by Logan Kenny ★★★★★ 1

“I wished with all my heart that we could just leave this world behind, rise like two angels in the night and magically disappear”
Review by IHE ★★½ 88

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,…
Review by Milez Das ★★★★★ 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....
Review by Austin Lord ★★★★★ 75

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…
Review by adrianbalboa ★★★½ 3

“this is new york city. you do the wrong thing with the wrong person and you die. period.” me in college when i told my roommate she had to stop asking people on the Q train if they wanna switch shoes
Review by amanda :( ★★★★★ 1

strange how the greatest movies make you want to die.
Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★½ 7

lacerations, lesions,
blunt force & bruises;
trauma is timelessness.
Review by Wesley R. Ball ★★★★★

I thought this was an LGBT movie.
This is definitely not an LGBT-specific movie.
This completely messed me up in ways i didn't expect. Gregg Araki created something so sickening and yet so indescribably beautiful in its mysticism, and it's almost an endurance test to see how much you can take before you're too broken to go on.
It's surreal.
It's horrifying.
It's fascinating.
I never want to eat Froot Loops again as long as I live.
Review by Lucy ★★★★ 1

so fucked up

Recent reviews

Review by Alejandro ★★★★★

I first read about this movie in the Washington Post weekend section at age 9. I heard for years and years about how dark it was but in spite of the absolute horror of some of the stuff depicted I find the film oddly comforting now, a fantasy, a beacon reminding me not to feel so alone. this really affected me
Review by DC_ ★★★★★

Fucking zoinkies Scoob.
Review by newton geiszler kinnie ★★★★★

i rewatched this last night and now i want to die
Review by abrianna ★★★★★

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

when neil held brian at the end as he cried... it kills me
Review by LordGlacier. ★

I really really really really hate this
Review by zeldy ★★★★★

wow.
Review by darian ★★★★½

a movie i will never rewatch but will probably think about every day
Review by antito

i first i was like cocteau twins!!!! then i got ruined
Review by 1morena3 ★★★★½

My life before and after seen this movie
youtu.be/IPW4jnput5k
Review by Jordan McKinney

what I was missing in totally fucked up emerged in this film. full of strong and deep characters, particularly the two leads (but also Mary Lynn Rajskub and Michelle Tratchenberg love her) that bring araki's soft and real approach to characters to greater heights.
its tough yet can be charming and delightful in small moments as it dwells on trauma response without being too 2021 about it. highly recommend if you aren't triggered by its molestation and aggressive sexual scenes (which at least with the young actors feel filmed in a very mature manner)
"Where normal people have a heart, Neil McCormick's has a bottomless black hole. And if you don't watch out, you can fall in and get lost forever."
Review by ketriel ★★★★½

very good
Review by pnkivy ★★★★½

meu deus do ceu