Critics reviews

Pop iconography typically signifies the alienation of Araki’s characters from the world, but in Mysterious Skin it ushers in their salvation. For Araki, then, Mysterious Skin spells progress.

For a movie premised on sexual trauma, Mysterious Skin is often disconcertingly sexy—and its eroticism has a surprisingly bracing effect.

The film has a weird buoyancy -- it's not a light picture, and it does include a harrowing (adult) rape scene. And it doesn't diminish the suffering of either of its two lead characters. But Araki doesn't make "Mysterious Skin" about suffering; it's really a picture about getting on with things, about the freeing benefits of coming to terms with the past instead of being a slave to it.

Whatever his relationship to the events that unfold here, this is clearly a deeply felt and personal movie for Araki, to whom Gordon-Levitt bears a more than passing resemblance.

Mr. Gordon-Levitt . . . conveys the dimensions of Neil's damaged personality with ferocious understatement. A lesser actor -- and a less confident filmmaker -- might have made him into a psychological case study, but the power of the character comes not from his status as a victim but from his resilient individuality.

Though only two major roles removed from his stint on the dire NBC sitcom 3rd Rock From The Sun, Joseph Gordon-Levitt already seems like something special, a remarkably engaged and daring performer who appears willing for anything.

There’s a newfound maturity in Mysterious Skin. . . . The humour is more subtle, the dramatic scale greater, the emotional range far more sophisticated.