NCIndieSeen

The 90s and early 2000s was a major era for Gregg Araki  I would like to refer to it as the Araki Indie Era of cinema.  Seriously.  Gregg Araki was one of the most innovative independent filmmakers of that time and although he doesn't have a lengthy body of work like other big Hollywood filmmakers his are the most notable. The first Gregg Araki film I ever saw was this crazy trippy film called Nowhere.  It starred a large cast of talent from actors like Christina Applegate, Rachel True, Ryan Philippe, and Heather Graham.  The film illustrated the lives of Los Angeles teens in this crazy interconnected web of crazy behavior from hardcore boozing to wild ménage à trois.

Araki apparently has a thing for ménage à trois, because in his 1995 film The Doom Generation there was a steamy scene with Rose McGowan, Johnathon Schaech, and James Duvall.  The film about three drifters who get off on robbing quickie marts.  It was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Rose McGowan's performance.    In the 2004 film Mysterious Skin, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (aka JGL), about a male prostitute, JGL managed to cross over to indie big screen cinema from the small screen (remember 3rd Rock From The Sun?).  Mysterious Skin received a number of jury awards at various film festivals and critically acclaimed by members of both the Hollywood and indie film communities.

There were a few other films Gregg Araki made but after Mysterious Skin he sort of fell off the indie circuit and just completely off the Hollywood radar.  What happened?  Has Gregg run out of material?  Has audiences grown tired of watching teen angst films?  Or movies about teenage rebellion and kids getting involved in activities that would make any parent's skin crawl?  Maybe not---but we do know Gregg needs to make a super comeback.  Perhaps cast Justin Beiber in one of his films...that would really get under some "mysterious" skins there...Beiber in an Araki directed film...the thought is cringe-worthy at best.