Mysterious Skin

(not part of the Frameline festival, but a movie I saw recently)

Director Gregg Araki (Totally F∗∗∗ed Up and The Living End) has produced a powerful, thought-provoking, visually stunning, occasionally funny, often disturbing film. Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Third Rock from the Sun, Ten Things I Hate about You) turns in a remarkable performance in the central role; Joey Mr. Gordon-Levitt is clearly not content to be "just another child star"; he imbues Neil with a haunted hollowness as the teenaged street hustler comes to grips with the sexual abuse he experienced a decade earlier and his path crosses with another boy who is convinced he was abducted by space aliens.

Mysterious Skin, dir. Gregg Araki, 2004 U.S.A., 99 min., rated NC-17