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Mysterious Skin [DVD] [2005]
 
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Mysterious Skin [DVD] [2005]

DVD ~ Brady Corbet
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
RRP: £19.99
Price: £6.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Mysterious Skin [DVD] [2005] + Manic [DVD] [2007] + Brick [DVD] [2006]
Total RRP: £41.97
Price For All Three: £15.84

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  • This item: Mysterious Skin [DVD] [2005] DVD ~ Brady Corbet

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Manic [DVD] [2007] DVD ~ Joseph Gordon-Levitt

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Brick [DVD] [2006] DVD ~ Joseph Gordon-Levitt

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Mysterious Skin [DVD] [2005]
83% buy the item featured on this page:
Mysterious Skin [DVD] [2005] 4.3 out of 5 stars (29)
£6.98
Manic [DVD] [2007]
8% buy
Manic [DVD] [2007] 4.5 out of 5 stars (2)
£3.88
Dream Boy [DVD] [2008]
3% buy
Dream Boy [DVD] [2008] 3.4 out of 5 stars (10)
£8.98
Nowhere [DVD] [1998]
3% buy
Nowhere [DVD] [1998] 4.2 out of 5 stars (6)
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Product details

  • Actors: Brady Corbet, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Rachael Nastassja Kraft, Lisa Long, Chris Mulkey
  • Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
  • Language English
  • Region: All Regions
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 18
  • Studio: Palisades Tartan
  • DVD Release Date: 24 Oct 2005
  • Run Time: 101 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0009X799S
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 10,779 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Synopsis

In 'Mysterious Skin', an unlikely director takes on an even more unlikely lead actor and crafts a deeply felt coming-of-age tale that pulsates with the scalding beauty of tragedy. The director, Gregg Araki, whose over-the-top, gay melodramas have been criticised as largely empty provocations, proves himself here to have great sensitivity. Yet it is the lead actor, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, best known for his work on the alien sitcom 'Third Rock From The Sun', whose unforgettable, nuanced performance makes the film. Based on the novel by Scott Heim, the story follows two teenage boys living in small-town Kansas: Brian (Brady Corbet), a clunky and awkward fellow with no discernible social life; and Neil (Gordon-Levitt), a rebellious gay youth whose fragile beauty and cruel indifference make him a successful hustler to the area's older men. Having suffered from blackouts as a child, Brian believes that these voids were actually alien abductions, and goes on a quest to confirm this. As his memories become increasingly vivid, Brian convinces himself that Neil, the star player on his childhood Little League team and a regular presence in his dreams, knows the truth. Neil does, in fact, know exactly what happened. The boys were sexually abused by their Little League coach. While Brian has suppressed the incident, Neil has held it deep within him like a treasure, considering it to have been a loving relationship of respect and tenderness, the absence of which has left him emotionally empty. The two strands of narrative are braided together elegantly, slowly leading up to a devastating final scene. Araki unifies the stories through an elegiac, celestial tone that manages to avoid preachiness via doses of appropriate humour. 'Mysterious Skin' is so profoundly alive with sadness and beauty that it nearly burns.

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Mysterious Skin

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Customer Reviews

29 Reviews
5 star:
 (21)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (29 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome & thought provoking, 21 Mar 2007
By Mr. C. J. Howard "Just lil ol me" (Midlands, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
The issue of child sexual abuse is an incredibly difficult one to broach, especially on the big screen - Gregg Araki manages to tell the story of these two young men from a dispassionate and sometime uncompromisingly detached perspective, whilst allowing the viewer to empathise with the two young men and the situation that they find themselves in.

This film is not for the faint hearted. Possibly the hardest scene to watch is where Joseph Gordon-Levitt, playing a rent boy, is raped - and yet I felt that this scene truly brought to the fore, the incredible turmoil going on inside this youth - the source of his self-destructive behaviour.

Despite the controversial and emotive material that forms the backdrop for this film, the journey of healing that ultimately emerges in the closing scenes is heartwarming and hopeful.

I would highly recommend this film.
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing but realistic, 29 Jul 2006
By Mr. R. J. MacRae "jayhawk2000" (Manchester, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Creepy pedos in baseball-playing, mom-loving, apple pie-eating small town America? You bet. And because it is devoid of an "after school special" sentimentality or Spielberg gloss, it feels that more chilling and bold and real.

An uncomfortable film to watch, but resonant for me as someone who grew up gay in 1980s Kansas. Details like the Little League games, the Halloween spook house and the shady characters cruising the park were all spot on, although I doubt the film will be championed by the Kansas Travel & Tourism Division.

I've not read Scott Heim's book on which this film is based, but on reading his background you realise each of the youths in the film is a manifestation of himself. He claims to have seen a UFO with his family, excelled in school and lived with his single mom after a divorce (like Brian), he announced baseball games (like Neil) and his infatuation with cosmetics and British goth pop made him the subject of death threats (like Eric).

Altogether that means there's a lot of truth to what's being depicted, no matter how dangerous or taboo some may consider the subject matter. I think Araki should be praised for making a mockery of the American movie ratings by filming such an explicit movie that doesn't show a thing. I've seen European art-house films with twice as much flesh which were half as frank. I think what disturbs people most is there is no moralising, no revenge and no happy ending where learning the truth frees the tortured characters from their shattered lives.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the stand-out from the cast, with Michelle Trachtenberg failing to bring any weight to the film's more poignant scenes because her dialogue was too 'writerly' (saying things that people may think but rarely voice).

I was disappointed that the film was not filmed in Kansas, but they did an excellent job finding places in California which were strikingly similar.
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful piece of art!, 2 May 2006
This movie was far from being rubbish. I am not one to watch gory details when it comes to human life, but nor I'm I able to watch mind-numbing boring and easy movies either. The summary got me, and I had to rent it. This movie dealt with a lot more than more or any gay themed movies can ever imagine. It was heart felt, shocking, scary and damn right vomit worthy at times. But all that brought in such a powerful storyline. We always get hit with political stories in movies, especially when it deals with aids or rape. But this movie dealt with how two people suffered the same incident but how different they were as people and how differently they took the incident.

A fan of the movie, and will be off the book once I get around to buying it. The warnings are all there, if you still pick it up and don't like it, don't blame it on the theme.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtprovoking, poetic drama that gets under your skin
I did not know what to expect when I rented this film, I thought it would just be another arthouse-style coming of age drama. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Flmfn

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting and deeply shocking!
Without a doubt this is easily one of the most powerful and shocking movies I have seen.I didn't know what hit me. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr. A. J. Ralph

5.0 out of 5 stars A great movie which pulls no punches
This movie is concerned with the uncomfortable topic of child sex abuse, and has been criticised elsewhere for allegedly adopting an amoral stance to it. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Michael cross

1.0 out of 5 stars What a load of junk!
I bought this DVD on the recommendation of someone to whom I was chatting on the Internet. He said it was a really good picture. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mr. David B. Rayner

4.0 out of 5 stars "Where normal people have a heart, Neil McCormick has a bottomless black hole"
I went to the local arts centre to see this movie with my partner. The opening ten minutes was such an uncomfortable experience, involving as it does the seduction of a preteen... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Nicholas Casley

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing and brilliant
This film deals with victims of paedophilia and how their childhood abuse has affected their adult lives. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Zoe A.

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound and moving...
Mysterious Skin first came to my attention when I saw a poster advertising it in a tube station. I was just visiting the UK at the time and was worried I wouldn't be able to get... Read more
Published 16 months ago by A. Bohn

5.0 out of 5 stars Superbly Moving
There're no frills or comedic plot devices to hide the emotional turmoil of the beautifully crafted and multi-layered characters, which makes 'Mysterious Skin' an amazingly moving... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Jane Doe

4.0 out of 5 stars Uncompromising
This film is something of a strange animal. On the one hand you have a good looking cast of young actors in a film that begins quite gently as a coming-of-age drama, although one... Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2007 by J

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful, Quixotic, Uncompromising Drama
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has come a long way. In 1998 his biggest claim to fame was an ice-skate in the face courtesy of Michael Myers. Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2007 by Thomas Elce

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