Under the Skin (2013)
Certified: 15
Duration: 108 minutes
Directed by: Jonathan Glazer
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Lynsey Taylor Mackay, Dougie McConnell, Kevin McAlinden, D. Meade, Andrew Gorman, Joe Szula
KRS release
Jonathan Glazer seems to be blazing a path of cinematic fire that breathes and looks very much like a modern- day Stanley Kubrick film. This is his follow-up to excellent movies: the cool and energetic Sexy Beast (2000) and the intense but controlled Birth (2004) besides a number of artistic music videos for the likes of Nick Cave, Radiohead and Blur.
Under the Skin can be termed as a sci-fi movie about an alien on our planet hunting down single men, but this would be too simplistic a definition. The basic story of this movie reminded me of the 1995 hit B-movie Species, where an alien takes the form of a beautiful woman and she puts the men who cross her path into deadly trouble. It also has a tinge of David Bowie’s The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976).
Having said this, Glazer decides to trim away all the usual trappings of the genre and make a minimalist movie that is visually exquisite and tangibly disturbing in the way it envelopes its audience and characters.
The film captures the essence of the book by Michel Faber but translates it into a different celluloid beast: one that is about an alien, yet it’s also about discovering what makes us human and appreciate that.
It certainly helps that the role of the alien is played by none other than Scarlett Johansson who presents a picture of a dangerous and bewitching beauty. She is an alien, roaming around Scotland, picking young men and harvesting them as they slowly disappear into blackness. She is not alone as she is being observed by a motorcyclist who is also an alien.
But as the film progresses, she slowly starts feeling empathy for her victims and starts to change as she tries to become more and more human.
Glazer is not going to explain every move and leaves his paintbrush free and sparse. He lets us draw our own interpretations to the unanswered questions such as why is she doing this and what is the blackness – is this an actual alien artefact or an allegory or metaphor of some kind?
Even her motives are dubious and we try to guess why she starts to change her course of action, what does she feel for her victims and why does she change her mind at times.
Everything here is about the visual impact of the film that in its sparse manner delivers quite a jolt. Glazer has a stylish approach and camerawork that seems controlled yet jagged and raw enough to be almost spontaneous.
Glazer is not about explaining or providing neat answers,but he is all about cornering and tying down his audience with a visual phantasmagoria. This is not everyone’s idea of a sci-fi movie for sure, but it’s a work of artistic flair and drive.