Bad gay boy Gregg Araki (THE DOOM GENERATION, ALL ***censored*** UP, THE LIVING END) returns after a 5-year absence with a more polished and matured piece MYSTERIOUS SKIN based on the acclaimed novel by Scott Heim.  Araki’s films are marked by his maverick, often disjointed but highly energetic devil-may-care style, which in the case of MYSTERIOUS SKIN works to the director’s advantage.

Take the film’s awesome starting image. A blank white screen! As the camera pulls back, the viewer notices white flakes that could very well be snow or cotton but turns out to be sugar puffs. That segment actually traces the start of a child molestation segment – the key issue of Araki’s new film.

For one it is good to see Araki back in gay territory as his straight films were going straight (sorry - couldn’t resist using the pun) downhill. MYSTERIOUS SKIN alternates between two protagonists. What they share in common (besides being gay) is the child sex abuse they endured while under training as kids with the same baseball coach.  One survives, the other barely. Araki interweaves the two stories together the way he knows best, creating humour (mostly dead-pan) in the oddest of moments and sympathy often when needed most. Grotesqueness is balanced with sensitivity but Araki’s viewers must possess as much fortitude as the long-suffering victim. Compared to the many recent films (BAD EDUCATION, MYSTIC RIVER) dealing with child abuse, Araki’s never judges or offers any solutions. The protagonists eventually have to come to terms with the truth – but in that achievement alone lies a certain peace.

MYSTERIOUS SKIN is reminiscent of what gay films used to be – edgy, shocking, not always entertaining but at least never dull.