Mysterious Skin

perfectly showed the opposite sides of the same coin. brian, who refused the fact of what happened to him, suppressed his sexuality, while neil, who lived with it, saw sex everywhere. brian being confronted with what happened to him (avalyn assaulting him) in a place where he denied it (blaming aliens for his initial assault) and neil losing control he was supposed to have (being raped when he’s the one placing limits on his sexual encounters through prostitution) were such important moments to get to the ending of brian and neil talking about what happened, as they relived it before finally accepting it. neil sniffing his old shirt after being raped as an attempt to remember the person he was before it happened was devastating and relatable. a cinematic masterpiece