The MAck

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Mysterious Skin

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

Mysterious Skin does an excellent job of capturing the aberrational psyches of the pedophile and his victims,

two of which are depicted here: the overtly hurt youngster whose encounters and "five-dollar games" with his Little League coach turn him into a street hustler who eventually ends up in New York City, and the boy whose hurt makes him an introvert who's convinced those episodes he's all but blocked out are invasions of body snatchers that he's the victim of alien abductions and experimentations.

Child molestation themes almost guarantee warfare with the ratings board and theater chains. Kudos to director Gregg Araki for taking a taboo subject and refusing to censor the film after the MPAA slammed it with an NC-17. Araki has the guts to push the envelope even further than other films involving pedophilia, like L.I.E. and Happiness, while still maintaining a tasteful, artistic adaptation of Scott Heim’s novel.

Although disturbing, surprisingly, Mysterious Skin isn’t gritty or unpleasant. The film contains strong sexuality (what did you expect from a film about pedophilia and hustlers?), but none of it is gratuitous.

The film journeys into a world that only the bravest of filmmakers dare to explore. This alone makes the film worth seeing.

This is easily the best, most accomplished film Araki has done to date.

Compelling, impressively acted

A film that turns moving and horrifying –

Mysterious Skin makes Midnight Cowboy look tame in comparison.

It's not enough to call Mysterious Skin one of the best films of the year. It is one of the best gay-themed movies ever made.

A warped, but beautiful and strangely hopeful, coming-of-age tale about two young men struggling to overcome childhood scars.

Nowhere

Nowhere is a 1997 film by director and screenwriter Gregg Araki. It is a bleak depiction of mid-1990s youth. It stars James Duval and Rachel True as Dark and Mel, a bisexual teen couple who are both sexually promiscuous.

The film is part of a series of three films by Araki nicknamed the "Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy" by its fans, due to the tendency that it depicts urban teenagers as misery-ridden zombies. It is highly sexual and contains scenes of graphic violence. The film is notable in that it features a variety of actors who had, at the time, not yet reached their current level of stardom. Among them are Heather Graham, Ryan Phillippe, Mena Suvari, Kathleen Robertson, and Denise Richards.

Also in keeping with Araki's film making tradition, various celebrities from the past forty years make unexpected cameos. Included are Shannen Doherty, Charlotte Rae, Debi Mazar, Jordan Ladd, Christina Applegate, Jeremy Jordan, Jaason Simmons, Beverly D'Angelo, Eve Plumb, Christopher Knight, Traci Lords, Rose McGowan, John Ritter, Staci Keanan, Devon Odessa and Brian Buzzini.

"Nowhere" most resembles "American Graffiti" in the way it skips merrily around among its sprawling cast of restless teen-agers. Where the George Lucas classic found its characters in thrall of a benign media god (the rock-and-roll disk jockey Wolfman Jack), "Nowhere" gives its lost souls an evil, smarmy television evangelist (John Ritter) with an 800 number.

Visually, "Nowhere" exudes an inviting pop-art glow. As its parade of the beautiful and damned exchange their slurpy kisses, they are photographed in swooning love-comic close-ups. If it weren't so overpopulated and desperate to shock, "Nowhere" might have succeeded as a maliciously cheery satire of Hollywood brats overdosing on the very concept of Hollywood.

Doom Generation

The Doom Generation is a film by director Gregg Araki. Released in 1995 it stars Rose McGowan, Johnathon Schaech and James Duval as two teenagers and a 20-something punk drifter who get involved in a ménage à trois

Like the generation it chronicles, Doom offers no apologies. It's unsafe, unnerving and primed to explode

Doom is Araki's first movie shot in 35mm on a budget that required more than mere toes and fingers to count. The movie also had a sudden and much-publicized shift in distributors prior to its release. Yet, none of this has dampened Araki's unique blend of nihilism and romanticism fueled by a witty script and dynamic compositions

The movie's soundtrack presents a relentless driving force featuring music by the Jesus & Mary Chain, Nine Inch Nails, Cocteau Twins, Pizzicato Five, Love & Rockets, and much, much more. More than any other filmmaker making movies about the new “kids” generation, it seems to me that Araki -- with both Doom and Totally F***ked Up -- has his finger tuned most acutely to the human pulse and not just the lens shutter.

Because of the film's dark subject matter and approach to the material, The Doom Generation received mixed reviews, with critics often comparing the film both favorably and unfavorably to Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers.

Sexy Beast

A heist film with a mix of surrealism, cool chique visuals, and juicy acting
It’s a heist film that leapfrogs ahead of most of the competition.


In the assured hands of director Jonathan Glazer Sexy Beast" is a mix of genres, an engaging and rapid sort of British B-flick, full of wit and dark humor. There's even a delicate little love story in there.
The film earned Kingsley an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 2004 the magazine Total Film named Sexy Beast the 15th greatest British film of all time..
It also won best film at the British film awards and best indie film