With all my recent posts about television I've fallen behind on writing about the movies I've seen lately. So far the major Hollywood releases this summer have been pretty dull but the next few weeks look a little brighter. However, that doesn't mean there's nothing of interest in release right now, you just have to look a little harder to find it.
A couple weeks ago I saw two very different films, both worthy in their own ways. One is a highly accessible, broad appeal picture while the other is artistically stunning but deals with subject matter that will scare more people away than invite them in.
The mass appeal film is Mad Hot Ballroom, a documentary about ballroom dance programs at New York City public schools. Although there is definitely truth to Christian Science Monitor film critic David Sterritt's charge that the movie plays like a "cuteness exploitation flick" it's pretty hard to resist the doc's modest charms.
Ballroom has received numerous comparisons to 2003's phenomenal spelling bee doc Spellbound but Ballroom isn't as mad hot as all that. It's a pretty shallow exploration of the dance program which hints at the economic and living conditions of the eleven-year-old kids who are participating in the program but prefers to focus on the cute, outrageous or unexpectedly mature things those kids say.
It works on its own terms because the kids are genuinely endearing and the looming dance competition provides a narrative focus, and keeps the film moving at an appropriate pace. It may make hardcore doc aficionados cringe but Mad Hot Ballroom is an enjoyable and satisfying film.
No one would ever accuse Mysterious Skin of being a "cute" movie but it's something much more than that. It just might be one of this year's best (it's certainly one of the very best so far).
The controversial topic at the center of the film is child molestation, but it's not handled in a way that I've ever seen on screen before. This is not an issue movie. It doesn't sugarcoat, moralize or devolve into melodrama. It's a sensitive, thoughtful creation that never feels exploitive but also doesn't shy away from the darker elements of the topic at hand. There are definitely scenes that are shocking, disturbing and repulsive but there are also moments of real beauty, sadness and humor. The movie is an astonishing, and entirely unexpected, step forward in the career of cult writer/director/producer/editor Gregg Araki.
Mysterious Skin tells the story of two teenagers living separate lives in the same small town who are clearly connected to each other although they never seem to cross paths. One is gay, the other is (presumably) straight. One is promiscuous to a dangerous degree, the other is completely repressed sexually. One has fond memories of a sexual relationship he had at a very young age with a much older baseball coach, the other suffers from blackouts and lost time (he believes he was abducted by aliens, the audience suspects otherwise). About the only thing the two teens have in common is they are desperately in need of help (even if one of them doesn't quite know it), and it becomes clear that they can only find that help from each other.
Araki's previous work has been relegated, deservedly, to very small cult followings. Films like The Doom Generation and Nowhere were filled with campy overacting and an in-your-face nihilistic attitude. It's not necessary to see those films to appreciate his work here, but it makes it all the more surprising.
This is his first film based on a pre-existing work, in this case a novel by Scott Heim, and that might have made all the difference. Araki's faithfulness to the material might be responsible for the strongly developed characters, believable situations and overall humanity that was previously missing in his work.
As much as a step forward as this is for Araki the film is also an incredible showcase for a breakthrough performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Best known as the wisecracking alien teen Tommy on Third Rock from the Sun, Gordon-Levitt fully comes into his own here as a true leading man, at least in the indie world. The role requires an extremely delicate mix of sexuality, rebelliousness and vulnerability. Gordon-Levitt meets every challenge expertly and, most importantly, his character never feels more like a symbol than a real damaged person.
The rest of the cast is equally fine, including Brady Corbet as the awkward yin to Gordon-Levitt's confident yang, Michelle Trachtenberg doing the indie-movie departure quite well, Jeff Licon as the fourth key teen character, Elisabeth Shue and Lisa Long making the most of their "mom" roles, reliably kooky Mary Lynn Rajskub as an alleged UFO abductee and Bill Sage in the challenging role of the baseball coach.
A movie like Mysterious Skin is very tricky. It's likely to make many viewers uncomfortable, but this isn't lowbrow shock cinema. It's a movie that greatly rewards the emotional investment of the audience. And that's all too rare.
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