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."

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet star in 'Mysterious Skin'

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.

Related offer:

Subscribe to Movieguide