Mysterious Skin (05.06.2004)
Brian and Neil have shared childhood trauma. One can’t remember, the other one can’t forget.
Mysterious Skin was a traumatizing watch. It’s the type of movie that makes you feel disgusted and scared with its detail, and isn't afraid of making you feel like the one getting assaulted. You begin feeling so familiar to the victims and this world, it’s gut wrenching. It’s hard to watch and uncomfortable to describe. Nonetheless, this movie represents the morally complex sides of trauma and how deeply being molested, and groomed at such a vulnerable age affects your actions and future so dramatically. Mysterious Skin does all of this by sharing with us the story of Brian and Niel.
I want to talk about Brian first because they took a really creative approach to the amnesia he experienced. What Brian knows is he has two moments in his life that he’s completely forgotten. To make sense of his confusion he used what he can make sense of to fill in the blanks. Brian was under the assumption for years that he was abducted by aliens. We watch him experience things that slowly hint to the reality of his past. I think the first time he got an accurate flashback to those moments was when the farm girl Avalyn assaulted him. During that scene he heard the voice of Eiden, his former little league coach, saying the same thing Avalyn was saying. Then his dreams were changing, instead of an alien hand it was the coach's hand. We also don’t know the details of what happened to Brian or Neil that night so we find out alongside Brian. In this movie we experience that loss of ignorance with Brian as his own story gets revealed to him for the first time.
Neils story was grim in a different way. Neil was groomed for months by his coach Eiden. He took Neil home most days because Neil's mom was negligent in that way, so this led to many opportunities for the coach to make moves on Neil. The coaches house was filled with kids candy and videogames for Neil and other kids to gain their affection. To the viewer this is already beyond creepy but Neil is eight, no one taught him about guys like Eiden. Neil did not have a caring environment at home and often had to be responsible for himself, and now this older, attractive guy says Neil is special, and beautiful. Neil was abused for months, using sex and manipulation, Neil coped with the trauma by convincing himself the coach is doing this because he loved him. For once Neil felt loved and cared for by an adult figure. This affects Neil for the rest of his life. During his teen years he becomes obsessed with finding someone who made him feel the same way. Sex, age, and love blended together in his head and he sought out dangerous men who openly sexualized his youth. This became one of the only ways he felt worthy of something to someone. He became stuck, relieving the pain of his past like an addict.
As I mentioned, Mysterious skin is not afraid to play the sexual abuse right in front of us. Food for thought but “Some things shouldn’t be re-created.” I mean at what point do we say, this is not right to recreate let alone distribute footage of. In my opinion mysterious skin walks on the line of this topic. Even so, the movie would not be the same without them or even if they were censored. That guttural pain, anxiety, and fear those scenes put you through only scratches the surface of pain actual victims feel.
Overall, I’m shocked this movie was made in 2004 because it reads so ahead of its time. A grown man preying on a young boy was—and is—a common weapon used to stigmatize queer men. It is a big deal that in 2004 Mysterious Skin took this topic and portrayed it for what it really is outside of that ignorant debate. Mostly, this movie teaches and attempts to serve as a representation for the effect child molestation has on a person. There is little I would change about this movie because I think this movie can teach people a lot. I’m not saying you should show this to an eight year old, but knowing how to see signs of abuse in your own life or others is an important life skill.
film diary, ent. 1