以儿童性侵犯为题材的影片。叙述两个男孩在孩童时期被其棒球教练强奸后成长的过程。在片中，强奸者未被妖魔化，观众因觉得他讨人喜欢而感到惊讶，甚至感到恐怖。两个男孩遭受这场悲剧之后，反应截然不同，他们为了寻求爱与理解而走上不同的道路。
　　影片中有许多充满幻想又令人不安的露骨的性描写。两个男孩被强奸时都只有8岁，其中一个男孩布赖恩(Brian)11年以来一直把这段不幸的人生插曲埋藏在记忆深处。另一个男孩尼尔很得教练的喜爱，成年后在家乡小镇成为同性恋妓男，后来去了纽约投入了另一个危险重重的同性恋黑社会。两个青年再次相遇，这次是他们人生的重新开始。

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      改编自知名作家Scott Heim发表于1996年的同名作品Mysterious Skin，美国独立电影的代表Gregg Araki将这本小说几乎完美地再现。拍摄改编剧本向来是导演高难度的挑战，尤记得我很喜欢的Michael Cunningham的《A Home at the End of the World》（中译为“末世之家”），被Michael Mayer改编的惨不忍睹。当然选角失败也占了一大因素，Colin Farrell在电影里简直可以用灾难来形容。

 

      如何保留原着的气味，同时又赋予其崭新的影像生命，单看导演解读文本的功力与调和文字世界与光影世界的能力，Gregg Araki用他难以逼视的才气再度征服了我们。Mysterious Skin的年轻演员也带来动容的诠释，不论是主角Neil、Brian或配角Wendy、Eric，随着情节的推移，你很难不疼惜这些年轻旁徨的生命。尤其Joseph Gordon-Levitt更演活了在故事里被形容为“所有事物都围绕着他旋转的沉默星系”，Neil。

 

      探讨恋童与爱滋病的电影似乎已可以专辟一个讨论群组，不论是较早的Sleepers（豪情四兄弟）、Happiness（爱我就让我快乐），或不久前的Bad Education，但Mysterious Skin处理的角度却非常独特。不同于其他恋童电影，主角长大成人后总是计划着报复行动，Mysterious Skin像是一部幽深自省的成长电影。即使十恶不赦如棒球教练或中年嫖客，导演并没有用镜头对他们多加批判。

 

      Gregg Araki不急于将太多道德判断一次倾倒于观者身上。透过男孩的视角，我们逐渐体会发生于他们身上的悲惨故事，或许只是人世间许多无法避免之恶的一环。复仇与血腥永远无法带来安宁，但自我放纵的代价是何其沈重，自我追寻的过程又是何其凄凉闭锁。好的电影绝不是导演喋喋不休地说教，而是尽其所能将观者置身于主角的世界里，观者自身的评断才是最真实的反响。

 

    导演对于这部电影的美学有着如下陈述:“Mysterious Skin有着极为黑暗的主题，所以我希望在视觉上，这是一部美丽且丰满的电影。我采用的影像语言就等同于小说里的诗意陈述，经过摄影机运动、光影转换、场景设计与主角独白，我希望创造出一个绚丽的，近乎发散着微光的世界。在那里，上演着晦涩的情事。”

 

      此外是令人惊艳的电影配乐。本片的电影音乐由美国环境音乐大师Harold Budd（曾与Brian Eno合作Ambient 2 The Plateaux Of Mirror）与Cocteau Twins成员Robin Guthrie主理。Gregg Araki一向是Ride、Slowdive、Cocteau Twins此派缓飙乐队的忠实乐迷，因此这些低调迷幻的Shoegazing之音配上他色彩缤烂的影像风格时，绽放出的艺术张力可谓无与伦比。

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In his new film Greg Araki uses a prudent ploy to snag and reel you in: having the visuals effusively speak and the screenplay divulge the least amount of information necessary to keep the story evolving. Words can only reveal so much, while Araki's images display an almost unbearable amount of visceral material, exploiting vibrant color, alluring texture, dark and light, the brooding and harrowing eyes of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and the handsome modesty of Brady Corbet.

 

The film resonates on a level of rawness unseen and unfelt since Cuesta's "L.I.E." or Solondz's "Storytelling." The film is jarringly penetrative and pervasive: the visuals in your mind play over repeatedly and the disconcerting but intellectually uplifting feeling "Mysterious Skin" infuses lies active long after you leave the theater. The film is not easy to digest. Seeing that there is pervasive sexual exposure between adults, as well as between adults and kids (though discreetly handled), this film will repulse many viewers. This film also had to be made.

 

Neil (Gordon-Levitt) and Brian's (Corbet) story starts in the early 1980s when they are only eight-years-old. Neil's little league baseball coach initiates a sexual relationship, of which (most likely to the consternation of several audience members) Neil actually recounts a rosy-colored remembrance: he enjoyed it. Brian that same year describes how his perpetual and mysterious string of blackouts and bloody noses began one rainy night after a baseball game.

 

The story moves forward to when Neil and Brian are at adolescence's conclusion. We discover that Neil has grown up to be both gay and a hustler, while asexual Brian's free time is taken up seeking the source of and resolution to his insoluble physical ailments. Brian soon deduces that aliens abducted him and meets a fellow abductee, Avalyn (Mary Lynn Rajskub), with whom he finds ephemeral solace.

 

Neil and Brian's story act in parallel, moving forward and backward over time, but never disjointedly. Neil eventually moves to New York, while his pining friend Eric (Jeff Licon) actually befriends Brian and an endearing friendship ensues. Neil's (unappeasable) pursuit of everlasting male love ends in the most unlikely of places: back home. Brian's pursuit of the truth leads him to, predictably, Neil. Araki exquisitely handles the ending (not divulged here) with the appropriate effusion of tendered emotion by the two main actors (warning: though the film's trailer subtlety gives away the finish).

 

I cannot give enough plaudits to the two male leads. A long way from "3rd Rock", Joe's sensuous flirtations and dynamic eyes mate well with Brady's tranquil, naive, yet profound, disposition. Brady's last scene with his character's father, as well as the climax, demonstrates his aptitude and assured longevity as an actor (beyond "Thunderbirds").

 

"Mysterious Skin" evidences many matches made-in-heaven: from film and director to material and actor to music and film. The film is entirely amoral, but not immoral. It is also a difficult film to watch. Many will cast it aside as tripe and trash (along with other morally relative films), but those fortunate enough to engage themselves in the movie's discussion will revel in it long after the credits' close.