Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast, Birth), UNDER THE SKIN features an absolutely mesmerising performance from Scarlett Johansson (Her, Don Jon) as a seductive alien preying upon hitchhikers in Scotland.
Scarlett Johansson stars in Under The Skin, a film about an alien creature disguised as a woman, who is bent on seducing a man for her own evil ends. "But wait!" I hear you cry, "I already saw that movie! It was called Species and it came out ages ago!". Well yes, the two movies do share some striking similarities. But while Species was very much the blockbuster, mainstream version of that story, this is definitely its more challenging, obscure, art-house counterpart.
The film starts as it means to go on, with a long sequence of abstract images and irritating, high-pitched noises that take a long time to actually resolve themselves into anything meaningful or coherent. It feels convincingly alien, but not in an entertaining way. I guess director Jonathan Glazer wanted to set out from the start that this wasn't going to be an easy watch, but I don't know if a long, difficult sequence like that is the best way to get the audience on your side.
From there, things get a bit more easy to follow as we meet Johansson's character (and her mysterious motorcyclist protector). There are long montages of her driving a van around Scotland, talking to men as part of attempts to pick them up. I thought these were the most interesting parts of the film, as they felt very convincing and true to life in a way that a lot of films don't (apparently some of these bits were filmed "candid camera" style, which explains it).
But these sequences end up leading to more confusing abstractness. I won't spoil what happens to the men Johansson's character picks up - although you can probably guess it isn't good - but the scenes showing their fate are again very drawn-out and it often isn't clear exactly what's happening to them.
And honestly, that's more or less all there is to the film, with a couple of deviations.
Maybe this is more aimed at men who will be interested enough in the concept of Scarlett Johansson as a strange alien woman going around seducing normal blokes, and they didn't think it really needed anything more. But for this viewer, it wasn't enough.
However while part of me wants to give this film just one star, it wouldn't be fair, as there are a couple of good things about it. I enjoyed some of Johansson's acting - particularly the part where she's learning to form sounds and speak, which was quite clever and well thought out. And there's one genuinely moving/terrifying scene in which a toddler's parents are killed at a beach and Johansson's character just coldly leaves him there alone, crying. It's a nightmarish, inhuman idea that's coupled with suitably harsh visuals of a stormswept, rugged coastline, and it worked well to create a disturbing effect.
But other than that, I totally failed to connect with the film, and it was a real struggle just to get to the end of it. Ordinarily I might admit that a lack of connection like that could be my problem as much as the film's, but Under The Skin seems to be so deliberate in its determination to give you nothing to really get hold of (other than a pouty Scarlett) that I have to say that this time I think it's the film that's the problem, not me.
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Please note this is a region B Blu-ray and will require a region B or region free Blu-ray player in order to play. An alien entity inhabits the earthly form of a seductive young woman who combs the Scottish highways in search of the human prey it is here to plunder. It lures its isolated and forsaken male victims into an otherworldly dimension where they are stripped and consumed. But life in all its complexity starts to change the alien. It begins to see itself as ‘she’, as human, with tragic and terrifying consequences. UNDER THE SKIN is about seeing ourselves through alien eyes. UNDER THE SKIN, starring Scarlett Johansson, is Jonathan Glazer’s critically-acclaimed third feature after Sexy Beast and Birth.
Scarlett Johansson stars in this sci-fi thriller adapted from Michel Faber's novel by director and co-writer Jonathan Glazer. Disguised as a human, extraterrestrial Laura (Johansson) comes from her home planet in search of earthly beings to send back to her employer. Arriving in Scotland she seeks out lonely hitchhikers to seduce, but can she keep her true identity hidden forever? The film also stars Paul Brannigan and Antonia Campbell-Hughes.
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