Under the Skin

Under the Skin (2013)

Producers: Film4, British Film Institute (BFI), Silver Reel

Director: Jonathan Glazer

Writer: Walter Campbel, Jonathan Glazer, based on the novel by Michel Faber

Rated: R (Graphic Nudity, Sexual Content, Some Violence and Language)

Runtime: 108 min

Genre: Sci-Fi, Suspense, Thriller

A Sci-Fi Art film! I'm usually not a big art film guy, but the prospect of an artsy Sci-Fi film intrigued me. So, lured in by that, I watched Under the Skin.

The first thing I noticed about this movie was the sound, and it was something that continued throughout the movie. There are many transitions between very quiet and inundated with sound; silently riding in a van, and then a crowded mall. There are also a lot of rhythmic sounds during the otherwise quiet moments. I felt this added a strange bit of tension. Tension, by the way, is what you feel during most of this film. If you're used to seeing films edited for large crowds this movie will turn a lot of the things you're used to on their head. Jonathan Glazer uses long shots to put more tension and suspense into the scene. You begin thinking to yourself, “We've been focused on her eyes in the rear view mirror for a long time, something has to happen.” Sometimes it does and sometimes you just smash cut to the next thing.

The combination of sound and editing style have the viewer in a constant state of not-quite-comfortable. Which is appropriate because our lovely alien lead finds herself feeling the same way. Although there is minimal dialogue Scarlett Johansson guides us through this outsider's attempts to harvest humans, understand them, and then be like them. Through her eyes we see just how strange we as humans can be; bar/club settings, buying something for a pretty stranger as some kind of cheap pick-up and not accepting others because they're somehow different than us. She sees some of the more positive things we have to offer too, our willingness to help those we don't know and do little things to ease someone's mind and body.

She attempts to abandon her previous life, realizing that she might not actually be a woman, but she would like to be. Unfortunately she finds herself unable to do the things that make us happy. After a shocking role reversal we're left wondering what the alien, and by extension we the audience, can take from the experience; and what the alien point of view says about humanity.

Conclusion: I could be way off, but the what I saw in this movie is that from the outside looking in humanity is one strange beast. As different from one another as possible, but alike at the same time. We should also remember that the worst of our traits are the ones that make the biggest impression on the one's around us. People base their opinion on those things, our children learn to emulate those things, but when it's all said and done we don't leave this world with any of them.

Rating: 7/10