Metacritic reviews

This thoughtful, troubling drama is leagues above the sensationalistic stuff Araki peddled in earlier films.

A gorgeous, heartbreaking and utterly convincing work of art.

Not for the squeamish, but it is a beautifully crafted and thoughtful film that genuinely provokes.

With remarkable directness and composure, it shatters the myth of childhood innocence and the deathless taboo of prepubescent sexuality.

By turns spiky and lyrical, this unsettling drama will be anathema to many audiences, but is bound to be a provocative, talked-about release.

Only half a great movie, because the other half follows a separate but related thread that isn't nearly as compelling.

It's an ideal collaboration: A stylish director desperately seeking substance transforms the first, somewhat flat novel of a promising young writer into powerful and brutally honest film about a highly controversial subject.

A well-conceived story that is very hard to shake.

By the end of Mysterious Skin, I felt physically exhausted but I also felt satisfied at the way it all falls into place.

Dull film about pedophilia that fails to shed any light on the topic.