Mysteriously Grim

I wonder if I'm losing my edge. ( I wonder if I have an edge?)

Saw Mysterious Skin this afternoon and thought it was a gratuitous shocker ... let's take a taboo subject and see how uncomfortable we can make the audience sake of "art."

I seem to recall I didn't love the book. And I hated The Living End. So when an in-your-face, allegedly "brave' director takes on another challenging subject, I guess it's not for the squeamish.

My dad used to say "I don't like to have to think when I go to the movies, I just want to be entertained." I have a friend who won't go to see movies about 'losers" or when bad things in the world (Sophie's Choice is not on his hit list) ... he just wants to have a laugh and feel good about the world.

I don't mind being challenged. I like the dark ... I usually get a kick out of what I used to call "theater that makes you squirm." But this was just dark and unrelenting and lacking in anything redemptive. It didn't show me anything I didn't know ... pedophila is bad. So is teenage hustling, especially when you get raped in a bathtub.

I left the theater feeling uncomfortable, disturbed, and angry. But it wasn't about the poor kids who are abused ... that would be justifable anger and sadness. I can't put my finger on it ... maybe it's because I feel assaulted. So, perhaps it was an effective film?

I don't think I'm becoming my dad ... I do like films that make me think. I guess i just want a little redemption at the movies.

Or maybe I'm just afraid to admit that I wasn't abducted by aliens and that my little league coach didn't find me attractive.