Mysterious Skin

Mysterious Skin is 2004 coming-of-age drama film about two pre-adolescent boys who both experienced a strange event as children, and how it affects their lives in different ways into their young adulthood. One boy becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.
 * Directed and written by Gregg Araki.

Two boys. One can't remember. The other can't forget.taglines

Neil

 * I met Wendy Peterson when I was 10. She was 11, one grade ahead of me in school. If I wasn't queer we would have ended up having sloppy teenage sex and getting pregnant, contributing more fucked-up unwanted kids to society. But instead, she became my soulmate. And... one true partner in crime.
 * Different folks, different strokes.
 * You called me your fucking... angel.
 * I hate it when they look like Tarzan but sound like Jane.
 * I am so sick of this stinkin' little buttcrack of a town!
 * [voiceover] And as we sat there listening to the carolers, I wanted to tell Brian it was over now and everything would be okay. But that was a lie, plus, I couldn't speak anyway. I wish there was some way for us to go back and undo the past. But there wasn't. There was nothing we could do. So I just stayed silent and trying to telepathically communicate... how sorry I was about what had happened. And I thought of all the grief and sadness... and fucked up suffering in the world... and it made me want to escape. I wished with all my heart that we could just... leave this world behind. Rise like two angels in the night and magically... disappear.

Brian

 * [voiceover] The summer I was 8 years old, 5 hours disappeared from my life. 5 hours. Lost. Gone without a trace. Last thing I remember I was sitting on the bench at my Little League game. It started to rain. What happened after that remains a pitch black void.
 * [to his father] I was bleeding, I kept passing out, I wet my bed, and you never asked why!

Other

 * Eric: [in a postcard to Neil] So you still haven't written - big surprise - but Wendy says you're doing OK, which is cool. I've been wanting to tell you about this strange guy I met 3 weeks ago. No, we're not fucking, get your mind out of the gutter, perv. He's not even gay, I don't think - in fact, his vibe is kinda weirdly asexual. His name is Brian Lackey. He lives in Little River and, like yours truly, attends Hutchinson Loser Community College... So anyways, the day you left, your mom and I found him literally on your doorstep, looking for you. He says you and him played Little League together like 10 years ago. He was the worst player on the team, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah... He's full of questions about you. But, of course, I haven't told him much, i.e. about your "line of work". I did say you were queer like me, only 'cause I figured you wouldn't care. But now, are you ready for the good part? He thinks that when you and him were little, you were both abducted and examined by space aliens. How brilliant is that? But he was completely serious when he told me this. Like you should've seen the look in his eyes. So, what's the story, dude? Were you abducted by a UFO or what? P.S. - Are your crabs gone yet?

Dialogue

 * Neil: You're the only one I ever told.
 * Wendy: I know.
 * Neil: I never told Eric or my Mom. And I know some people might think it's fucked up, or whatever? But what happened that summer... is a huge part of me. No one ever made me feel that way, before or since. Like I was special.
 * Wendy: Neil, you were eight years old.
 * Neil: Yeah, but he really loved me. I mean, there were other kids sometimes, but... I was his prize. I was his one true love.


 * Wendy: You'd better be careful.
 * Eric: Of what?
 * Wendy: I'm serious, Eric. You're not in Modesto anymore. I see the way you look at him.
 * Eric: He's so beautiful. I can't help it. He's like a god.
 * Wendy: You don't have to tell me, I was infatuated with him too once. But I know all Neil's secrets and there's shit there you don't even want to know about. Trust me. Once I'm gone, you'll be all Neil has and you have to understand one thing. Where normal people have a heart, Neil McCormick has a bottomless black hole. And if you don't watch out, you can fall in and get lost forever.


 * Eric: I got a postcard from Wendy.
 * Neil: I think she's mad at me because I owe her like 3 letters.
 * Eric: Yeah, her last P.S. is "Tell Fuckface to write me."


 * Brian: I'm drunk. I've never been drunk in my life.
 * Eric: I'm corrupting you. Finally.

Tagline

 * Two boys. One can't remember. The other can't forget.

Cast

 * Joseph Gordon-Levitt - Neil McCormick
 * Chase Ellison - young Neil McCormick
 * Brady Corbet - Brian Lackey
 * George Webster - young Brian Lackey
 * Michelle Trachtenberg - Wendy
 * Riley McGuire - young Wendy
 * Jeff Licon - Eric Preston
 * Mary Lynn Rajskub - Avalyn Friesen
 * Elisabeth Shue - Ellen McCormick
 * Bill Sage as Coach
 * Chris Mulkey - Mr. Lackey
 * Lisa Long - Mrs. Lackey
 * Richard Riehle - Charlie
 * Kelly Kruger - Deborah
 * Rachael Nastassja Kraft - young Deborah
 * Brian Drago - Zek