Posted on 05/06/2005 7:19:55 AM PDT by Houmatt
A new movie about pedophilia opening today in New York is being accused of violating U.S. laws against child pornography.
"Mysterious Skin," which traces the story of two 8-year-old boys abused by a homosexual predator into adulthood and a life of homosexual prostitution, is directed by Gregg Araki.
Ted Baehr, a film critic who has a degree from the New York University School of Law and who worked for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York, said the movie violates U.S. law and those of most states.
"This film clearly violates the child pornography statutes written by Congress and most state legislatures," he said. "We urge the authorities to take action and investigate."
A review in the Christian publication Movieguide, written by Tom Snyder, who holds a Ph.D. in film studies from Northwestern University and who taught film history at National University in Southern California, said the graphic sex scenes in the movie "are just shy of the hardest hardcore pornography you can ever find."
The review also notes that the movie "tries to justify the graphic nature of its scenes and descriptions of homosexual pedophilia and homosexual prostitution by tacking on artistically directed scenes of sadness, pain and humor."
"The film, 'Mysterious Skin,' reaches a new low in depravity," said Baehr, founder and publisher of Movieguide, who served as director of the Television Center at the City University of New York in the late 1970s.
Baehr said the movie contains graphic scenes of homosexual prostitution and homosexual rape, scenes of a homosexual pedophile seducing a young boy and a graphic description of the homosexual abuse of two little boys.
The film stars Brady Corbet as an 18 year-old introvert who has recurring nightmares of his childhood and thinks he may have been the victim of an alien abduction. Co-star Joseph Gordon Levitt plays a teen-ager ready to leave his small town of Hutchinson, Kansas, for a more jaded and dangerous life in New York City.
The movie is based on Scott Heim's novel of the same title.
True - but it definitely played up the "social justice" angle, and it was pretty experimental for its time in setting and cinematography.
I believe it was filmed in the same area as Gibson's "Passion". It probably was so acclaimed because it was filmed in a more gritty style than the usual Hollywood epics with their hosanna-ing scores and studio sets in those days. It's worth seeing once for a few good moments, but is not a keeper IMO.
It continues to enrage me that you can buy the key works of almost any obscure author you could care to name in paperback at cheap Amazon prices - yet there are plenty of great directors who essential films are either totally unavailable on DVD or are prohibitively expensive.
Lots of older obscure authors are in Public Domain whereas very few films are yet. Criterion is doing great work in that sphere. It's better now then it was 10 or 15 years ago. And it's only getting better.
I don't see anything in here that would violate child pornography laws.
This is an excuse to have a 'legal' form of child porn.
Jesus in "Gospel" was portrayed kinda fruity IMHO.
"graphic scenes of homosexual prostitution and homosexual rape"
It also violates the unwritten law of political correctness by showing homosexuality in a bad light.
I have very little respect for Baehr as a critic, but even less for Araki as a direcotr. The Doom Generation is one of the most painfully bad movies I have ever sat through.
Has anybody here criticizing the film actually seen it? There are a lot of ways the camera can fool the eye - I'd like a little more evidence that these children were molested than the outrage of one film critic who has a problem with the movie.
"The director is an angry, militant homosexual."
Are there any other kind, except for Liberace?
Nowhere in the review does this guy even make the claim that the children involved were molested. There's a lot of sleight-of-hand going on in this article. The descriptions of the sexual conduct in the article do not seem to violate any child pornography laws, IMO.
Good point - he could have been more specific about what he meant when he said "This film clearly violates the child pornography statutes written by Congress and most state legislatures."
Homosexual Agenda Ping.
Super duper nausea alert. Interesting, this movie apparently shows the truth - that many homosexuals were molested as children and adolescents, which then twisted them to become homosexual themselves.
But it sounds as though this movie is using the story line to be a vehicle for "gay" child porn.
I hope to God they shut the crap down.
Let me know if you want on/off this pinglist.
disgusting ping
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