It wasn’t until just recently that I realized that Joseph Gordon-Lewitt was cast to play Cobra Commander in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, which looks like it could be really awful… or just really stupid, but fun (like Transformers). Odd choice you say? If so, then you probably only remember him as the little kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun, but Joseph Gordon-Lewitt broke out of that shadow (for me at least) in Greg Araki’s (Doom Generation, Nowhere, The Living End) 2004 film Mysterious Skin. I don’t know about you but  besides being highly manipulative, Cobra Commander always struck me as a little light in his loafers. Watch Mysterious Skin just may see why Joseph Gordon-Lewitt could be perfect for the chrome headed (sometimes hooded) and always Emo terrorist.

Set in the mid 80s and early 90s, Mysterious Skin tells the story of two teens touched by the same event as children. Neil (Joseph Gordon-Lewitt) grows up grows into a wild, promiscuous male-hustler who eventually leaves his small Kansas town for the greener (and more dangerous) pastures of New York City. Brian (Brady Cobert) on the other hand who grows into a bookish, asexual sort of guy who has an obsession with UFOs, and believes as a child he was abducted by aliens. Their stories and lives run separate from one another until Brian at age 19 runs into Neil for the first time since childhood and together they begin to uncover the secrets of their shared abuse.

Despite the homosexual themes and a killer shoegaze soundtrack, Mysterious Skin is really unlike any of Araki’s other films. Araki usually has an underlying absurdest and comedic take inserted as social commentary. Gone are the tongue-in-cheek, bad in a good way acting and dialogue that had become Araki’s trademark. In their place is a really well acted, written and directed coming of age story that keeps with Araki’s dream like style but introduces a lot of grit, grime and realism into the mix. Unfortunatelty since it’s release Araki has only followed this up with the good, but light-hearted Stoner Comedy Smiley Face. I’m curious to see what Araki does next, but alas he’s got nothing new listed on his IMDB page.

After Mysterious Skin, Joseph Gordon-Lewitt went heavy on indie films scoring starring roles in Brick, a Film Noir meets CW Teen Drama which he followed up with the crime drama The Lookout. Both films, while not quite as good as Mysterious Skin are still very much worth seeing. Hopefully this summer bodes well for him and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra ends up being entertaining and 500 Days of Summer doesn’t turn out to be another Garden State.

- My Pal the Crook