White Bird in a Blizzard/Mysterious Skin discussion

edit: Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in Mysterious Skin

So a trailer for a movie I’ve been looking forward to for a while came out the other day. The movie’s called White Bird in a Blizzard, and I’m pretty excited for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s a pretty neat trailer and the premise is super intriguing. The cast also looks great, particularly Eva Green and Shailene Woodley. But exciting me more than anything is the fact that it’s from the director of one of my favourite movies: Mysterious Skin(2004), and this trailer has Gregg Araki’s ‘Mysterious Skin style’ all over it, from the informal voice overs to the shots with actors staring right into the camera. And its set in the 80s! Anyway here’s the White Bird trailer:

Alright, so while I was getting caught up in the 80s settings and the voice overs and Eva Green, I didn’t really mention the tone or content of these films. As you can tell from the White Bird trailer, it is quite a dark tone, with some potentially heavy content(which I felt the trailer probably hinted at too much, as it gave away way more than it had to, but I think that’s a problem with most trailers these days). With Mysterious Skin the content is far from lighter. Simply put, it’s about child abuse. That’s totally simplifying the film, but if you think you’d struggle with watching something centred around that issue, then I’d avoid this, although the confronting, yet candid nature of it is something I love so much about it. So yeah, now I’m going to review or just kind of talk about Mysterious Skin for a bit(relevant to the course because like networked media is pretty mysterious and stuff, right).

Mysterious Skin follows the lives of Neil and Brian, from age eight – when they were first abused by their baseball coach – and into their teens, where both of them are coping with their pasts in extremely different ways. Neil, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt(I should’ve mentioned his name earlier in this post, would’ve been way more attention-grabbing – I’ll edit that in later), has grown into a reckless kid, working as a prostitute.

Brian, played by Brady Corbet, is a very reserved kid and has become somewhat obsessed with the idea that he was abducted by aliens when he was eight. He has no memory of his abuse, while Neil embraces his, looking back on it with fondness. In their roles, Gordon-Levitt and Corbet are both equally incredible. Gordon-Levitt completely gives himself to the role, and is able to make a character who embraces his molestation and who has a ‘bottomless black hole’ instead of a heart, sympathetic and believable. Corbet gives a much more subtle, yet no less impressive performance, as a boy who is desperate to come to terms with his disturbing past. The obvious contrast between the two lead characters is what really makes this movie something else. The fact that we are presented with two completely different yet believable responses leads to a more complete story.

The film begins with a series of flashback scenes from the boys’ childhoods, narrated by the older actors, that appropriately set the tone for what is to come. These scenes, despite their harsh material, are shot in such an innocent and candid way that really places you in the position of the boys – a terrible position to be in, but a scarily compelling one. Bill Sage bravely takes on the role of Coach, a true monster, with a chillingly kind surface personality, as we witness his attempts at seducing and molesting the eight year old Neil.

From here we are taken to 1981, where Neil and Brian are in their late teens. Brian is investigating his abduction with a fellow believer (played by Mary Lyn Rajskub – aka Gail the Snail from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), which is ultimately leading him to N. McCormick – Neil – who he has not seen since he was eight.

Neil is not easily found, however, as he has moved to New York, where his hustling has become increasingly dangerous – leading to some both beautiful moments and painfully confronting ones(I keep saying ‘confronting’, but it really is the only way to describe it). Brian’s hopes of finding Neil and, in turn, finding answers, drives the remainder of the film, leading to perhaps the most subtly heartbreaking conclusions of any film I’ve seen, but enough about that.

I really love this movie. It could be a movie about a boy that was molested when he was eight, and has become a reckless prostitute, and still be great. It could be a movie about a boy who was molested when he was eight, and blocked it out of his mind, replacing it with ideas of being abducted by aliens, and still be great. But Mysterious Skin is able to bring these two stories together, and create something truly engaging, tragic and confronting. I love this movie. Go watch it, then go see White Bird in a Blizzard.