Let's ignore, for a moment, the fact that Jonathan Glazer hasn't made a film in seven years. Beyond that, I haven't even seen his other two features Sexy Beast and Birth. None of that matters here. Under The Skin is unlike any movie I've seen in the last decade... perhaps ever.
It evokes memories of The Man Who Fell To Earth and Kubrick while connecting back to the hypnotic pacing of Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood. Obviously a rare style in film these days (or ever). But what is so shocking and wonderful about Under The Skin is its ability to always keep its viewers on edge. That pacing only works to the film's advantage. And whenever something really big happens, it has been very well earned without the requirement of over explaining the situation.
I really don't want to give anything away, because it's well worth your time to go out and catch this piece of eerie sci-fi mastery. And yes, I do believe it's a modern sci-fi masterpiece if that helps you at all when choosing between this and Rio 2 this coming weekend (I'm just kidding, no one's going to see Rio 2 anyway).
Scarlett Johansson is just amazing to watch in this flick. She perfectly carries this personality... or lack-there-of... that evokes the concept of a hive mind. The attitude of a worker bee. And as her character unfolds in the second half of the film, it's like an awakening of something that doesn't know how to think or feel by itself. Somehow she managed to capture a level of depth that no human can actually understand or really feel. The lack of dialogue plays into her hands in the most peculiar of ways. And it was very interesting to discover almost every other actor she had to work with on screen was a local with no prior experience and just a natural demeanor. Makes you wonder what you would do if Scarlett Johansson drove by randomly and tried to pick you up. There in lies the brilliance of this film. In many ways it is completely believable.
The music is just perfectly eerie and all together mesmerizing. Mica Levi has done a superior job in a film that required her to bring her A game. And I'm not gonna lie, that tune stuck with me for two days after I saw the flick... you'll know which tune I'm talking about after you've seen it.
Under The Skin is already a frontrunner for my favorite sci-fi film of 2014... and I take that category very seriously. I wish you luck as you embark on this strange journey, but luck really has nothing to do with it... Under The Skin is just a fine film well worthy of your time.
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