Joseph Gordon-Levitt Double Feature
i rewatched 10 things i hate about you, but i figured that alone would make for a boring article. so i decided to make a double feature and watch another joseph gordon-levitt film i've been meaning to knock out!
10 Things I Hate About You
(if you want a soundtrack while you read, i was listening to joy from persona 3 ORIGINAL MIX SCREW THE RELOAD on loop while i wrote this section)
ain't this just the perfect romcom? both of the classic setups (unlikely couple + dating with a motive), a star-studded cast, and a lightning-fast 90 minute runtime. it's got wits (teehee) and fun times and talent and attitude and an all-around less braindead feel than you would expect. i even liked the needle-drops! and i hate needle-drops! i see why this has such a dedicated following, especially today; it's the idealized version of all those classic but sorty shitty romcoms we have in our heads in our heads except real. i'm not one to pretend like idealizations are the, well, "ideal" versions of art - see the recent slew of frictionless bullshit retro shooters - but i can't help but be charmed.
my favorite part of this movie is the dog damn cinematography. mark irwin (frequent collaborator of cronenberg & craven also known as c&c on the 2s and 3s) cooked here for no discernable reason. whether it be the heaps upon heaps of clever visual gags or simply pretty shots, it makes the movie "fun to watch" in a literal sense. even if you're not 100% vibing with what's happening in a given scene - unlike me - there's almost always something neat on-screen. that shot of them throwing all the flyers down the stairs... priceless.
despite the whole entire point of this page AND joseph playing the lead character, this is not a joseph gordon-levitt movie. it's a heath ledger movie. and he is SUCH A HOTTIE IN THIS (see image at top of article). the dynamic is bad boy + bitch girl instead of the typical bad boy + good girl, it's soooo cute. and kat (the bitch in question) is like a top 10 bitch of all time! totally serving. when watching the BEST of romcoms i rarely find myself emotionally invested, but like... how could i not be? i want heath ledger and kat to be happy. big fan of how the ending doesn't see them becoming any less weird or rebellious, just less lonely. it's sweet. joseph is very sweet in this too, good boy, would be the star if heath wasn't there.
so yeah! had a fantastic time watching this. figured i might as well check out some of this director's other stuff. i mean, if his first film was this good, his other stuff must be good t-
w-what? what the hell is this? this looks like a money laundering scheme. deadass. and it might actually be, considering there's some kind of legal case surrounding it right now! guess lightning doesn't strike twice.
Mysterious Skin
(if you want a soundtrack while you read, listen to the movie's score. it'll blow your mind)
yeah, so this is... about the most jarring second feature topic-wise that i could have chosen. i'm evil like that. for those not "in the know", mysterious skin is a film about sexual abuse. or, at least, that's what i believed it was going in. "a film about sexual abuse" is underselling the shit out of it.
if you asked me to sum up mysterious skin, i'd tell you: it gets it. in the damn-near exploitation film degree of difficult subject matters contained herein, they are never not approached with understanding and tact as the foremost goals. it gets what it's like to be fucked up by your past. it gets what it's like to go through assault. it gets what it's like to be a frustrated queer kid in a hick town. it gets why people stay in abusive or dangerous situations. in a turn i wasn't expecting, it gets that in life's worst periods, people don't stop being horny or goofy or like, human. i started crying after i finished watching, not because the movie was sad, but because i felt so seen. to be clear, i am NOT a victim of sexual assault. it was moreso the depiction of traumabrain and overwhelming memories that hit home. shit also hit home in the aesthetic department, because this is basically a 90s indie movie released 10 years too late. how is it so 90s? how outdated was the tech they were working with?
wait, they only had 2 million dollars? AND THERE WERE NO RETAKES?! AND THE CINEMATOGRAPHER WAS NAMED STEVE GAINER?!?!?! got damn.
anyway, about joseph. he gives the PERFORMANCE OF A LIFETIME. i think he's gonna be "the mysterious skin guy" in my head from now on. i can't explain well why it's such a special performance, as it's fairly subtle. he simply becomes neil. neil is broken, funny, reckless, and kind. if you've been in a place similar to where he's been, i think you'll see what i mean within the first 30 minutes of the movie. and that final speech... damn. joseph gordon-levitt was on his Monica Taylor Horgan shit. a fantastic character portrayed by a fantastic actor. massive kudos to the author of the source novel.
i think the thing that takes mysterious skin from "great" to "masterpiece" is similar to what makes neil a great character. it's not a front-to-back tragedy that only wants to make you sad. mysterious skin has a whole beautiful kaleidoscope of emotions! how many other movies could pull off an honest depiction of pedophilia followed up by a hilarious moment that DOESN'T feel jarring (i am, of course, referring to the bruise blowjob). it's why i feel so dumb for having reduced this to a film about rape. it's a film about two people who survive rape and learn how to live with their trauma. it's a difficult watch, yes, but not a hopeless one. in fact, i think it's the most hopeful movie i've yet seen. alexa, play samskeyti
p.s. can't recommend the soundtrack enough. if you can't handle a movie that deals with rape so upfront, please do yourself a favor and listen to it (+ samskeyti by sigur ros, which was excluded from the soundtrack's release for some reason). half of it is shoegaze. i hate shoegaze! so when i tell you it's good, you better go "damn! this must be good!". in context its straight-up MAGICAL, i love the way gregg araki works with music, using little snippets that cut out real harshly and all. dude's a next-level editor. still processing this movie. crazy ass movie. love it. bye
update: it has been 24 hours. in that 24 hours i have not been able to stop thinking aobut mysterious skin. when i close my eyes, i see neil mccormick. i watched the whole thing again. is this the best movie ever made? probably. i think so at least