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1%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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3[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mysterious_skin_9075.jpg]]
4[[caption-width-right:300:''[[{{Tagline}} Two boys.\
5One can't remember.\
6The other can't forget.]]'']]
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8''Mysterious Skin'' is a 2005 drama film written and directed by Gregg Araki, [[FilmOfTheBook based on the novel of the same name]] by Scott Heim.
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10At eight years of age, Neil [=McCormick=] (portrayed by Chase Ellison as a boy and Creator/JosephGordonLevitt as a teen) discovers he is homosexual, developing an obsession with his mother's boyfriends and the men in her ''Playgirl'' magazines. He develops a crush on his baseball coach (Creator/BillSage), who takes advantage of this and starts taking special interest in him. One stormy night, an incident happens...
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12Several years later, a teenage Neil works as a gay hustler. Meanwhile, another young man named Brian Lackey (George Webster as a boy and Creator/BradyCorbet as a teen) who is obsessed with [[AlienAbduction alien abduction conspiracy theories]] is trying to piece together his past. He cannot remember the events of several hours in his youth, and he assumes that during this time, aliens had abducted him.
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14The two eventually meet, and the [[AwfulTruth horrible, liberating truth]] about what happened in their childhood is revealed.
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16While the film was critically acclaimed, it was extremely controversial for its subject matter. MoralGuardians in Australia attempted to [[BannedInChina have it banned]] on the grounds that it could encourage copycat behavior. However, to the filmmakers' credit, the child actors' welfare was thoroughly looked after through ways including them receiving separate scripts and being asked to perform innocent actions that would then be edited to appear suggestive.
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18!!This film provides examples of:
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20* AlienAbduction: Brian is obsessed with the idea that he was abducted by aliens as a child.
21* AllGaysArePedophiles: The coach is, but plenty of other gay men are not. The movie also averts the related trope that being molested as a child makes you gay, as Neil mentions having been attracted to men before he even meets the coach (and the coach is able to molest Neil because Neil had a crush on him, also due to him being Neil's type).
22* AwfulTruth: And ''how''. Brian finds out his missing memories and nosebleeds are not from alien abduction, but [[spoiler: from being molested as a child by his Little League coach.]]
23* BittersweetEnding: Brian finally finds out the truth about his missing memories and inexplicable nosebleeds, and he and Neil may have started some sort of relationship by the end. But that truth is [[AwfulTruth as depressingly horrible as you can get]], and any healing they go through is a long way off.
24* BreakTheCutie: Brian, ''so much.'' The first 20 minutes or so show how Neil was himself broken when he was 8.
25* CallingTheOldManOut: Brian drunkenly confronts his father on his 19th birthday for his absence and emotional neglect, which left him open to [[spoiler: being sexually abused by his coach]], and then not noticing anything was wrong, despite his obvious emotional and physical problems.
26%% * CampGay: Eric has shades of this.
27* ComingOutStory: Neil tells his at the beginning. He also [[DefiedTrope defies the idea]] that being molested made him gay, since he already had feelings for men before starting baseball.
28* CreepyGymCoach: Neil and [[spoiler:Brian]] were raped by their baseball coach when they were kids.
29* DepravedHomosexual: The man who rapes older Neil, and also [[spoiler:the coach.]]
30* FagHag: Wendy, Neil's best friend since he was 10 and she was 11. Neil himself notes that had he not been gay they probably would have gotten married and had kids together, and Wendy mentions to Eric that she had at one point been in love with him (and it's implied she might still be)
31* FanDisservice: Joseph Gordon-Levitt is naked in several scenes, but none of them are really titillating.
32%% * FilmOfTheBook: One of the rare good ones, both as a standalone film and compared to the book.
33* GayCruising: A lot of it.
34* HarmfulToMinors: While they react differently to it, it's pretty clear that the incident has ruined both their lives.
35* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Neil is reckless and selfish, not to mention incredibly warped and self destructive through no fault of his own, but he does care about his friends and mother and grows to be a better person, also being willing to get an actual job rather than just work in the dangerous position of being a male prostitute. [[spoiler:His comforting of Brian at the end is a prime example]]
36* KarmaHoudini: There is no mention whatsoever of any justice served against the Coach for his actions.
37%% * LonelyPianoPiece: "Samskeyti" by Music/SigurRos, during the last scene.
38%% * ManlyTears: Averted, which makes it much more powerful.
39* LonersAreFreaks: This is portrayed in Brian's personality. Putting aside his horrific earlier experiences, he does seem to be socially awkward and unworldly even in fairly routine situations, such as his encounter with a librarian.
40* MeaningfulLook: just the way Avalyn's father stares at her when she walks Brian from her house. Perhaps their memories of alien abduction have a similar root cause?
41* NeverTrustATrailer: Trailers for the film omitted all references to child molestation, homosexuality and swearing so they could be shown on TV. Because of this, they had to place emphasis on the AlienAbduction aspect, making it look like a family-friendly sci-fi film with some dramatic scenes. Though acclaimed by those prepared for its content, those who only saw the trailers were surprised when they viewed the film for themselves.
42* OddFriendship: Brian and Avalyn, who commiserate over their shared alien abduction stories (until [[spoiler: she tries to have sex with him]], as well as Brian and Eric, who meet up and become friends when Brian's trying to learn about Eric's friend Neil. It can be argued that the latter friendship is odder, since there are starker differences in the personalities of Brian and Eric.
43* PrecisionFStrike:
44** When Brian [[CallingTheOldManOut finally confronts his father]] is the one time he swears in the film.
45---> '''Brian:''' I was bleeding! I kept passing out! I wet my FUCKING bed! AND YOU NEVER ASKED WHY!
46** Neil has a somewhat lesser one.
47---> '''Neil:''' I am so FUCKING sick of this little buttcrack of a town!
48* PornStache: The Coach has one.
49* PromiscuityAfterRape: Neil becomes a gay hustler after being raped by his Little League coach. Many of his johns resemble Neil's abuser.
50%% * StraightGay: Applies more to Neil than to Eric.
51%% * TheTwink: Neil.
52* TimeSkip: There are several of them, which encompass around ten years overall. Interestingly, Brian doesn't get a depiction of his mid-teens in the film, whereas Neil does. This adds to the impression (along with the film's posters) that Neil is the somewhat more central of the two protagonists.
53* VitriolicBestBuds: Neil has this kind of relationship with both Wendy and Eric.
54* WhatNowEnding: [[spoiler: Following a reveal of what really happened to Brian when he was "abducted", the film promptly closes with carolers singing outside while Neil cradles Brian, leaving absolutely no closure on their broken lives.]]

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