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| "Mysterious Skin" | | Date Created: May 10, 2005, 08:50 AM |
The Scott Heim novel Mysterious Skin has been made into a movie, and Brian and I and our friends Lee and Steve saw it on Saturday.
I read the novel over 10 years ago and thought it was pretty strange. I was just coming out at the time, so perhaps a novel about hustling, child abuse, and alien abductions wasn't a good intro to the world of gay fiction. I didn't really remember much about the book, other than I thought it was strange, so I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to like the movie.
This isn't a movie you like. And, after the movie was over, I didn't like it very much.
However, after having some time to think about it, I think it was better than I initially gave it credit for.
The movie is about two boys, Neil and Brian who are around 19 and making their way through the world. Neil is a hustler in a small Texas town. Brian is a college student living in the same town, who believes he has been abducted by aliens. The movie shifts back and forth between the present and the past. Neil recalls his Little League coach, who ultimately abused him (a memory which Neil does not shun, and in fact believes that he not only accepted, but enjoyed -- and you keep wondering if this is just a defense mechanism.) Brian recalls the night he "lost time" and wound up huddled in the basement of his house with a bloody nose, not knowing how he got there.
As the movie progresses, Brian begins to recall more and more about the night he was abducted by aliens, and begins to believe that Neil had something to do with it. So, he starts to try to look for, and meet Neil believing that Neil may be able to help him find out what happened.
Eventually we find out what is probably obvious to you now. Brian wasn't abducted by aliens. He was abused by the same Little League coach, who used Neil as a prop to get Brian. So we end up with two classic responses to child sexual abuse: Neil, who becomes hyper-sexualized and hustles; and Chris who shuts down and becomes basically asexual.
It was amazing how this movie generated sympathy for Neil, who was not a very likeable character initially. By the climactic scene in which he gets beaten and raped by a john, you're shocked by both the violence of the act, and the fact that you somehow started caring for the character. Then, you're shocked by the implication that it would have been easier if you didn't care for the character?! Initally I felt manipulated by this scene, as if they'd put it in there just to generate sympathy for an unsympathetic character. However, after discussing the movie with Brian, I realized that along the way I had come to like Neil's character already. By the final scene, where Neil recalls all the details of that fateful night to Brian you're truly moved by both of their amazing performances.
I've read a bit online about the movie, and the way it was made was very interesting. The director, Gregg Araki, basically made two movies. He filmed one movie with the child actors, completely separately from the movie he made with the adults, in order to protect the children. They had no idea how their scenes would be spliced into the film, and instead were just playing acting games. Then he cut in the footage of the adults into the rest of the movie. The effect is startling.
This is in theaters now (probably only small, independent houses) so you may have to wait until it comes out on DVD, but I highly recommend it. It isn't an easy movie to watch, but it is very well done. (Which is something one can rarely say about queer cinema.) |
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