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The 21st century has seen any number of films about the stories people tell themselves in order to rationalize and reconfigure their trauma, but none have been more raw or powerfully true to life than “Mysterious Skin.”
Nineties indie icon Gregg Araki took great risk in adapting Scott Heim’s 1995 novel, the story of a teen hustler who, drawn exclusively to older men as an adult, comes to terms with the fact that his Little League coach groomed and raped him as a child over one summer in 1981 Kansas, and how his sexual behavior later in the ’90s was shaped by those encounters as a result. While Neil McCormack (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) engages in reckless sexual activity, elsewhere a fellow teammate, Brian Lackey (Brady Corbet), who was also abused by the same coach, retreats...
The 21st century has seen any number of films about the stories people tell themselves in order to rationalize and reconfigure their trauma, but none have been more raw or powerfully true to life than “Mysterious Skin.”
Nineties indie icon Gregg Araki took great risk in adapting Scott Heim’s 1995 novel, the story of a teen hustler who, drawn exclusively to older men as an adult, comes to terms with the fact that his Little League coach groomed and raped him as a child over one summer in 1981 Kansas, and how his sexual behavior later in the ’90s was shaped by those encounters as a result. While Neil McCormack (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) engages in reckless sexual activity, elsewhere a fellow teammate, Brian Lackey (Brady Corbet), who was also abused by the same coach, retreats...
- 8/14/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Heart-wrenching horror.
After kicking off May with discussions of Stephen Sommers’ perfect action-adventure-horror-romantic-comedy The Mummy (listen) and the iconic jump scare in the Audrey Hepburn-starring Wait Until Dark (listen), we’re delving into the real-life horrors of child sexual abuse in Gregg Araki‘s 2004 adaptation of Scott Heim‘s novel Mysterious Skin.
Mysterious Skin tells the story of how child sexual abuse affects the lives of two pre-adolescent boys in different ways. Neil (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous sex worker, while Brian (Brady Corbet) retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction. The film is told in parallel narratives before culminating in a heart-breaking reunion that will change each boy’s life forever.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS.
Episode 282:...
After kicking off May with discussions of Stephen Sommers’ perfect action-adventure-horror-romantic-comedy The Mummy (listen) and the iconic jump scare in the Audrey Hepburn-starring Wait Until Dark (listen), we’re delving into the real-life horrors of child sexual abuse in Gregg Araki‘s 2004 adaptation of Scott Heim‘s novel Mysterious Skin.
Mysterious Skin tells the story of how child sexual abuse affects the lives of two pre-adolescent boys in different ways. Neil (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous sex worker, while Brian (Brady Corbet) retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction. The film is told in parallel narratives before culminating in a heart-breaking reunion that will change each boy’s life forever.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS.
Episode 282:...
- 5/20/2024
- by Trace Thurman
- bloody-disgusting.com
After concluding April with discussions of Ciarán Foy’s Eli (listen) and David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (listen), we kicked off May with a revisit of Stephen Sommers’ delightful 1999 film, The Mummy (listen).
Now we’re headed into the past with Terence Young‘s adaptation of Frederick Knott‘s “disabled woman in danger” play, Wait Until Dark (1967).
In the film, recently blind Susy (Audrey Hepburn) is menaced by a trio of strange men, including sexually perverse ring leader Roat (Alan Arkin), “nice guy” Talman (Richard Crenna) and portly Carlino (Jack Weston). The men are looking for a doll full of heroin, which is located somewhere in her apartment, but she doesn’t know where!
Can Susy figure out the scam with the help of upstairs neighbor girl Gloria (Julie Herrod) or will she wind up hanging in the closet like Roat’s poor accomplice Lisa (Samantha Jones)?
Be sure to subscribe...
Now we’re headed into the past with Terence Young‘s adaptation of Frederick Knott‘s “disabled woman in danger” play, Wait Until Dark (1967).
In the film, recently blind Susy (Audrey Hepburn) is menaced by a trio of strange men, including sexually perverse ring leader Roat (Alan Arkin), “nice guy” Talman (Richard Crenna) and portly Carlino (Jack Weston). The men are looking for a doll full of heroin, which is located somewhere in her apartment, but she doesn’t know where!
Can Susy figure out the scam with the help of upstairs neighbor girl Gloria (Julie Herrod) or will she wind up hanging in the closet like Roat’s poor accomplice Lisa (Samantha Jones)?
Be sure to subscribe...
- 5/13/2024
- by Joe Lipsett
- bloody-disgusting.com
Director: Gregg Araki; Screenwriter: Gregg Araki; Starring: Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, Christopher Meloni, Shiloh Fernandez, Angela Bassett, Gabourey Sidibe, Thomas Jane; Running time: 91 mins; Certificate: 15
Shailene Woodley's star continues to rise on a sharp upward trajectory thanks to The Descendants and the Divergent/Insurgent franchise and it may be because she seems wise beyond her years, bringing with her a kind of soulful ennui with the world. Casting her in this adaptation of Scott Heim's novel is also a clever move by writer/director Greg Araki, but the film is ill-judged in various other aspects.
Araki is particularly fascinated by extreme growing pains, with credits including The Doom Generation (1995) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt drama Mysterious Skin (2004) and at the heart of this story is the tragedy of abandonment. Kat Connors (Woodley) is just getting to grips with her changing body – and the boy next door Phil (Shiloh Fernandez) is...
Shailene Woodley's star continues to rise on a sharp upward trajectory thanks to The Descendants and the Divergent/Insurgent franchise and it may be because she seems wise beyond her years, bringing with her a kind of soulful ennui with the world. Casting her in this adaptation of Scott Heim's novel is also a clever move by writer/director Greg Araki, but the film is ill-judged in various other aspects.
Araki is particularly fascinated by extreme growing pains, with credits including The Doom Generation (1995) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt drama Mysterious Skin (2004) and at the heart of this story is the tragedy of abandonment. Kat Connors (Woodley) is just getting to grips with her changing body – and the boy next door Phil (Shiloh Fernandez) is...
- 3/6/2015
- Digital Spy
It’s been a decade since Gregg Araki’s arresting coming-of-age examination of the ramifications of child molestation debuted at the Venice Film Festival in 2004 and the devastating remnants are still lingering. Despite its off-putting subject matter, Mysterious Skin proved to be a near universal critical hit that brought Araki back to the fore, launched the auteurist acting career of Brady Corbet and redirected Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s in the wake of his childhood gig on 3rd Rock from the Sun to much more serious adult cinema. Told from the perspective of two boys who are ripped from childhood by their kiddy league baseball coach, he director’s impeccable sensitivity to the emotional nuance of novelist Scott Heim’s heartbreaking semi-autobiographical story continues to resonate as a means of reckoning with the residual effects of abuse.
While Corbet’s mumbly asexual Brian blocked the experience out of his memory and replaced...
While Corbet’s mumbly asexual Brian blocked the experience out of his memory and replaced...
- 3/25/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Craig Gilmore and Mike Dytri in Gregg Araki's The Living End (1992)
This year is the 20th Anniversary of Gregg Araki’s The Living End and the birth of New Queer Cinema as a whole. Outfest’s Legacy Project has preserved Araki’s films, as well as the work of several New Queer directors, including Swoon!
After a screening of The Living End hosted by Outfest, I asked Gregg a few questions about his films, films today and what goes on in that head of his.
Your films never take themselves too seriously, but you always drive your point home. Where does your sense of humor come from?
I guess it’s sort of in my nature and the way I view at the world. I’m not really sure. I just sit down to write my movies and this kind of crazy stuff – my outlook on the world – comes out.
This year is the 20th Anniversary of Gregg Araki’s The Living End and the birth of New Queer Cinema as a whole. Outfest’s Legacy Project has preserved Araki’s films, as well as the work of several New Queer directors, including Swoon!
After a screening of The Living End hosted by Outfest, I asked Gregg a few questions about his films, films today and what goes on in that head of his.
Your films never take themselves too seriously, but you always drive your point home. Where does your sense of humor come from?
I guess it’s sort of in my nature and the way I view at the world. I’m not really sure. I just sit down to write my movies and this kind of crazy stuff – my outlook on the world – comes out.
- 3/29/2012
- by Film Independent
- Film Independent
It seems like Justin Lin has become an overnight success. Sure, Fast & Furious was a big hit, but the success of Fast Five showed studios that he can deliver something big with their action properties twice in a row, which landed him Terminator 5. He recently talked about how he’s become sought out by major studios over the past few months — so he was already doing well for himself — but THR says that Lin has signed a first-look deal with Universal that will last two years, and lands him his own production company, Barnstorm Pictures.
This will allow him to develop projects on what’s being referred to as an “elevated tentpole aimed at global audiences.” Several movies have been set up for him to produce and possibly direct — they include a spy project called Leading Man, an untitled World War II film centered on a “Japanese American battalion...
This will allow him to develop projects on what’s being referred to as an “elevated tentpole aimed at global audiences.” Several movies have been set up for him to produce and possibly direct — they include a spy project called Leading Man, an untitled World War II film centered on a “Japanese American battalion...
- 8/23/2011
- by [email protected] (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Amazon has dipped its toe into the subscription streaming-video business, competing with Netflix by turning its Amazon Prime free-shipping service into a source for not just holiday gifts, books and tax-free, two-day-shipped sundries but also movies. It’s obviously a soft-launch for something bigger, and, for those who plunk down their $75 yearly fee for the shipping benefits, a really good deal.
Amazon claims to have launched with 5,000 titles, but one article cited only 1,668 films and 484 TV shows. (The discrepancy was chalked up to counting each episode of a TV series as a separate title.) So, Amazon hasn’t got anything on Netflix with its 11,000+ titles… yet. For now, though, there are some gems in Amazon’s back catalog. Here are 25 Filmmaker-approved movies Amazon Prime members can stream now.
1. Mysterious Skin. Gregg Araki’s adaptation of Scott Heim’s book stars Brady Corbet and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as teenagers who have found...
Amazon claims to have launched with 5,000 titles, but one article cited only 1,668 films and 484 TV shows. (The discrepancy was chalked up to counting each episode of a TV series as a separate title.) So, Amazon hasn’t got anything on Netflix with its 11,000+ titles… yet. For now, though, there are some gems in Amazon’s back catalog. Here are 25 Filmmaker-approved movies Amazon Prime members can stream now.
1. Mysterious Skin. Gregg Araki’s adaptation of Scott Heim’s book stars Brady Corbet and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as teenagers who have found...
- 3/8/2011
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
In 2004, Gregg Araki stunned his fans and international critics with a brilliant little film, Mysterious Skin, a searing adaptation of Scott Heim's cult novel concerning child abuse, cow abuse, being gay, hustling, and grasping for affection.
Before achieving this cinematic feat, Araki helped kick off the New Queer Cinema movement with The Living End (1992), a poorly acted, technically uneven, yet audaciously brave feature about two hotties with AIDS who decide to become Bonnie and Clyde.
read more...
Before achieving this cinematic feat, Araki helped kick off the New Queer Cinema movement with The Living End (1992), a poorly acted, technically uneven, yet audaciously brave feature about two hotties with AIDS who decide to become Bonnie and Clyde.
read more...
- 1/3/2011
- by Brandon Judell
- www.culturecatch.com
Have a question about gay male entertainment? Contact me here (and be sure and include your city and state and/or country!)
Q: Dear winged simian, why isn’t the song "Don't Give Up" by Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush considered a gay anthem? I know the song isn't in itself gay, but the message, especially the last verse – “Don't give up, 'cause I believe there's the a place, there's a place where we belong" – says so much. Plus, it’s been covered by Willie Nelson, Sinead O'Connor, Sarah Brightman, and Gregorian monks! – Gilbert, Mcallen, TX
"Don't Give Up" by Gabriel/Bush (1986) and Ferraro/Gaga (2009)
A: What makes a song a "gay anthem" – or what makes any work of art go from "well-received" to "timeless" status?
Serendipity.
Seriously, think about all the books and movies and songs and TV shows that are released every year. At the end of that year,...
Q: Dear winged simian, why isn’t the song "Don't Give Up" by Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush considered a gay anthem? I know the song isn't in itself gay, but the message, especially the last verse – “Don't give up, 'cause I believe there's the a place, there's a place where we belong" – says so much. Plus, it’s been covered by Willie Nelson, Sinead O'Connor, Sarah Brightman, and Gregorian monks! – Gilbert, Mcallen, TX
"Don't Give Up" by Gabriel/Bush (1986) and Ferraro/Gaga (2009)
A: What makes a song a "gay anthem" – or what makes any work of art go from "well-received" to "timeless" status?
Serendipity.
Seriously, think about all the books and movies and songs and TV shows that are released every year. At the end of that year,...
- 3/24/2010
- by Brent Hartinger
- The Backlot
Gordon-Levitt, Corbet join 'Skin'
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brady Corbet will star in the lead roles in Gregg Araki's indie drama Mysterious Skin. The project, which is currently lensing in Los Angeles, will also star Elisabeth Shue, Michelle Trachtenberg, Bill Sage, Jeff Licon, Chris Mulkey, Billy Drago, Richard Riehle and Mary Lynn Rajskub. Based on the novel by Scott Heim, the project is the story of two boys who meet when they are 18 and discover a common past that has shaped both of them in different ways. The story takes place in New York City and Kansas. Shue plays the mother of Gordon-Levitt's character, Trachtenberg portrays his best friend, Sage stars as a baseball coach, Licon plays a friend of both boys at different times, and Mulkey portrays the father of Corbet's character. Drago plays one of the characters in New York City, Riehle plays one of the Kansas characters, and Rasjkub portrays a woman from whom Corbet's character needs help.
- 8/20/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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