after seeing so many indies and loving most - i thought indie was the way to go... this movie taught me not all indies are great... or even good for that matter.

so mysterious skin is apparently based on a book by the same name written by Scott Heim. with that aside the movie was rated high on both amazon.com and netflix (i really need to find a better review place before renting) - but that aside i was very excited to see this movie. great reviews - indie - it also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt whose been doing more indie flicks (his also staring in 'Brick' which i've heard good things about). so bottom line - i was excited to see the movie...

then i actually saw the movie... i was not impressed. the acting was good... the story... seemed very very pointless, and offensive (to me). and the big 'mystery' seemed (for lack of a better word) transparent. there is no big pay off.... so why am i so disturbed. the movie is about two 8 year old boys who are sexually abused by their baseball coach during one summer. then it shows how the two boys grew up and how that summer effected both of them.

that first bit was just very very offensive to watch - and i was even more disappointed when there wasn't any epiphany of any sort - hell there wasn't even an insight.

the only thing i got from the movie was 'child abuse is bad' - no shit. my suggestion - pass don't watch this movie. it'll only show you disturbing images of children being sexually abused - just to tell you it's bad. no bloodie shit.

Quoted: Amazon.com: Mysterious Skin (Deluxe Unrated Director's Edition): DVD

i've heard so much about this movie... and then finally i watched it. i loved this movie - so much so i'm having a hard time mailing it back to netflix.

why you ask? well the movie is so well written - the transitions are beautiful and it's very artsy! did i mention the acting? it's wonderful. i especially liked John Hawkes who plays the shoe salesman... he has the ability to look crazy, sad, happy all with his eyes. it's creepy and wonderful at the same time.

FYI - one of the main characters who is also the writer and director Miranda July is a filmmaker, performing artist and writer and it shows in this movie.

i really can't go into the details of why i love it so... you'll just have to trust me and watch it. i've added a plot summary (at the bottom from amazon) but trust me. if you like indie + artsy movies with beautiful visuals and transitions + great story that's handled with care - you'll love this movie too.

Quoted: Amazon.com: Me and You and Everyone We Know: DVD

Plot Synopsis: 'Me and You and Everyone We Know' is a poetic and penetrating observation of how people struggle to connect with one another in an isolating and contemporary world. Christine Jesperson is a lonely artist and "Eldercab" driver who uses her fantastical artistic visions to draw her aspirations and objects of desire closer to her. Richard Swersey (John Hawkes), a newly single shoe salesman and father of two boys, is prepared for amazing things to happen. But when he meets the captivating Christine, he panics. Life is not so oblique for Richard's seven-year-old Robby, who is having a risqué Internet romance with a stranger, and his fourteen-year-old brother Peter who becomes the guinea pig for neighborhood girls -- practicing for their future of romance and marriage.

movie recommended by Radmilla - not out on dvd yet (neither amazon.com / netflix.com has it). dotting so i can remember for later.

Quoted : Set in the Karst region of Slovenia, Jan Cvitkovič's striking black comedy begins with a quotation from J.D. Salinger: "I was six when I saw that everything was God and my hair stood up". His hero, Pero, makes a living giving speeches at funerals while his father Dedo, pining for the wife that died six years ago, makes repeatedly inventive but unsuccessful attempts to kill himself. Pero's speeches are full of nonsense, euphemism, and fragments of personal philosophy that pass over the heads of the mourners. His neighbour Šuki, after watching a chariot race in an Italian sword and sandal epic, fashions jagged blades for the hubs of his car. But the film's philosophical concern with life and death, heaven and hell, its humorous and absurd approach to the chaos of life, is no match for the hidden cruelties that lie behind conventional facades or the grotesque brutalities that can suddenly erupt from within its apparently peaceful setting. Gregor Bakovič gives a brilliantly deadpan performance as Pero and the whole cast remain superbly in tune with Cvitkovič's black and ironic portrait of the human condition.

saw this last night and enjoyed it very very much. it's your typical story of a boy who goes on a travel to find himself... well - find his past... well his grandfather's past.

the story - on the cover - is Elijah Woods, but in truth the story isn't really about him. his more of a catalist for what happens. the story is really about a grandfather and a grandson who happens to be driving Elijah's character around in the Ukraine.

storytelling is great. the first half of the movie is humorous and then there is a moment in the movie as things slowly change. the second half is a tear jerker.

this movie is about the past, about objects, about people and about how it all interwines.

RECOMMENDED

Quoted: Amazon.com: Everything Is Illuminated

been meaning to watch this movie for awhile (it kept getting pushed down in my netflix que) but saw it today!

and sadly the movie is a better concept then a movie. concept - four independent cameras following four characters in one continuous shot. the basic script / story is there but the actors have to improvise the scene - in this case one long scene.

great idea - but it just didn't come off. because of the improv of all scenes it seemed like there really wasn't a flow to the movie. it seemed more like a bunch of noise then a well orchistrated interweaving of stories. the random earthquake thingy where it looked like they just shook the camera... kinda lame.

also they had random characters which didn't seem to fit in. some characters seemed serious - coke using, moody producer, then they had random comical characters - a massuse who basically looked like he didn't know what he was doing massaging random actors - fluffing up their hair.

bottom line - don't waste your time