Michelle Trachtenberg

Featured Critic critic_name A.O. Scott New York Times 5/5 Mysterious Skin is infused with remarkable tenderness and beauty.

(What is this?) ’3/5’ "Mysterious Skin makes Midnight Cowboy look tame in comparison."
— Kent Turner, FILM-FORWARD.COM

"Gregg Araki? More like Gregg Hack-raki."
— Jon Popick, PLANET SICK-BOY

3/5 "By the end of Mysterious Skin, I felt physically exhausted but I also felt satisfied at the way it all falls into place."
— Don R. Lewis, FILM THREAT

B+ "Dramatically shows how some victims of sexual abuse are affected."
— Harvey S. Karten, COMPUSERVE

3.5/4 "Pop iconography typically signifies the alienation of Araki’s characters from the world, but in Mysterious Skin it ushers in their salvation."
— Ed Gonzalez, SLANT MAGAZINE

3/5 "Reveals the pain and suffering wrought by sex offenders who prey upon children. "
— Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, SPIRITUALITY AND HEALTH

— Click to read the article.
— Rich Cline, SHADOWS ON THE WALL

4/4 "This thoughtful, troubling drama is leagues above the sensationalistic stuff Araki peddled in earlier films."
— David Sterritt, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

2/4 "...the whole thing just feels flat somehow."
— David Nusair, REEL FILM REVIEWS

B- "After several disappointments, Araki is on terra ferma with Mysterious Skin,another study of of youth anomie, a theme explored in his previous, more personal films."
— Emanuel Levy, EMANUELLEVY.COM

2.5/5 "Undermined by a startling change in tone a quarter of the way through the narrative."
— Susan Green, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE

B "Araki has continued to turn out fringe films...to diminishing results...his first adaptation of a novel...is a serious, if somewhat flawed, return to form. "
— Laura Clifford, REELING REVIEWS

3/4 Click to read the article.
— REEL.COM

"Mysterious Skin is infused with remarkable tenderness and beauty."
— A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES

"Gregg Araki delivers his most challenging and arguably most mature film."
— David Rooney, VARIETY

"As a filmmaker, Araki, always brash, has rarely been so confident, creating a shimmering mood that allows for multiple shifts in perspective and register."
— Dennis Lim, VILLAGE VOICE

4/4 "Araki has put a protective, shimmering patina on a story of abuse and emotional dissonance and the result is an otherworldly, painfully honest movie."
— John Anderson, NEWSDAY

3.5/4 Click to read the article.
— Lou Lumenick, NEW YORK POST