We finally had a chance to catch Under The Skin. Here's our review.
Imagine
the disjointed narrative linguistics of Nicolas Roeg’s ‘The
Man Who Fell to Earth’ as shot by Aphex Twin videographer Chris Cunningham, and
you have a rough idea of Jonathan Glazer’s ‘Under the Skin’ Nine years since his equally divisive and
haunting masterwork ‘Birth,’which featured Nicole Kidman in what was
unquestionably her finest hour, 'Under
the Skin' is a quiet existentialist cry in terror chronicling an odyssey
through the Scottish countryside, on a secret mission that evolves eerily from
soul stealing to searching. Much like
Nicolas Winding Refn’s polarizing ‘Only God Forgives', it's a silent exercise
in pure cinema as narrative storytelling, with intermittent dialogue sprinkling
the film and intentionally flat characterizations providing a sense of cold
alienation.
Populated
with images and sounds as far reaching and deeply frightening as the monolith
drifting through Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey,’ we are thrust
headlong into an extraterrestrial perspective with Scotland as a kind of Moon
for Scarlett Johansson's bravest, most meditative performance as an incurious,
insectile explorer sneakily drifting beneath our noses. Much like it's central
figure, Johansson and Glazer walked and drove among real passerby with cameras
either hidden or strategically placed to garner unscripted reactions to the
film's elusive predator.
 |
| "Come on. You've had a few too many......" |
Fueled
by a soundtrack akin to a Lynchian wind tunnel with Penderecki strings painting
an atmosphere of fear and unease, the confusing promenade through our own
humanoid landscape is accelerated by random shifts in tone with images ranging
from kaleidoscopic psychedelia to minimalist sterility, all intended to be
beyond human comprehension. Glazer's vistas of unsuspecting men disrobing with
Johansson in a blank abyss couldn't help but echo Chris Cunningham's “Flex,”
with images of naked bodies engaged in graphic coitus floating in a black void
punctuated by sharp and startling electronic sounds, all to a chilling yet
abstract effect.
-Andrew Kotwicki