Originally published November 2015

I've watched a few too many movies recently with leading ladies and men who are widely regarded as "beautiful" by the public, but who couldn't act their way through a cereal commercial. Beauty should not guarantee you a role in a movie! So, it's refreshing to watch something like Under the Skin, a movie with a pretty lady in the lead who can also act, even if the film is a little up its own ass at times. Under the Skin is an existential art project directed by Jonathan Glazer and features Scarlett Johansson as the main character. I knew a little about this film prior to watching it and, having just finished it, I feel like I know as much about it as I did when I started. Under the Skin isn't trying to tell a story you haven't heard before and it doesn't necessarily do much new, but the ways in which it presents its subjects are at the very least intriguing and occasionally unsettling.

Pros

• Scarlett Johansson does a commendable job in the role of a seductive, predatory alien.

• She's also quite naked in this film a lot.

• The scenes where she's luring men into her lair are unnerving and creepy, in a good way.

• Great cinematography.

• Some entertainingly funny moments as the alien attempts to be human.

• Manages to be relatively interesting with so little dialogue.

• Some of the visual effects are really well done.

Cons

• More of an art project than a story.

• Can get a little slow with its focus.

• I didn't find the ending as satisfying or poetically appropriate as the movie may have thought it was.

Plot & Thoughts

Under the Skin is a movie about a nonhuman (alien?) who uses a realistically lifelike disguise of a human female to seduce and kill men and who slowly becomes interested in what it's like to be human. Chances are, you've either seen or heard of a movie with that sort of synopsis before.

Under the Skin doesn't try to be anything particularly new with the premise. Instead, it tries to approach the familiar idea a little differently and narrow our point of focus down in the movie to specific moments or imagery, while still providing a rather abstract, artistic perspective. It's a quiet movie where mostly all we hear is the sound of the environment around Johansson and the disquieting score of the film. The music is a key part of the experience as it is something reminiscent of that found in the Silent Hill video games. There could be next to nothing happening on the screen, or a very indefinite close-up of something as familiar as an eyeball, but the music playing behind it makes the moment tense or eerie.

The quiet tension of the film stems from the fact that Johansson's character doesn't talk much. She's mostly staring off into space at different things. I know I mentioned that she's doing quality acting in this film and you may be wondering how that's actually accomplished through just staring into space. The reason I think she does a good job is because Johansson is showing credible subtlety in her acting. While actors like Al Pacino are masters of creating drama through flamboyant behavior and going from a subdued attitude to rage-induced screams in an instant, Johansson is showcasing her ability to act in a robotic fashion with very controlled movements and timing in a subtle manner that works to elevate the film. Examples of this come from her posture and the way her head is positioned when she's around other aliens(?) and acts like a stiff robot, as opposed to how she becomes a little looser and vulnerable towards the end of the film as she begins attempting to be human. As she becomes more interested in being human, her reactions to things remain a little distant and delayed, as a quiet and naive child might behave in an unfamiliar environment.

Her acting abilities are also apparent in how she looks and behaves in the beginning when she goes into hunting mode. She'll be alone in her van looking to pick up men who are alone and won't be missed--the fact that she uses a van serves no purpose other than to make the metaphor of her being something of a child predator for men, who entices them with her "candy"--and the entire time she's alone, she'll have that robotic vacant expression. Yet, as soon as she finds a target, she puts on the cute, naiveté of a humble woman who needs help. This is where the majority of the dialogue of the film comes from. She doesn't say more than a single word at a time to anyone else in the film unless she's trying to trap her prey. Watching her behave so stoically and ruthlessly, then slowly transitioning into an aloof but vulnerable person by the end made her an empathetic character. I actually hoped she would make it through the inevitable encounters with threats, despite the cold and calculated murder methods she employed on numerous men throughout the film.

Dream-like is one way to describe Under the Skin. The music already has that unsettling eerie quality that makes it feel like it's on the verge of being a nightmare. The way the film is shot also lends to the description. Much like a dream, I can recall numerous specific moments individually, but not necessarily tell you the exact order in which I saw them. Some images themselves are clear, with some beautiful landscape shots of Scotland, while others are more disturbing but memorable, like Johansson luring men to their doom, or the beach scene in which a rather dark event is presented in a very cold and distant way, matching Johansson's character. In some ways, it's reminiscent of a Kubrick film with the many lingering shots, the quiet nature of the film, and the constant undertones of horror in the background, which may or may not be what you're looking for. For the most part, it worked for me, but even I got a little tired of the transcendental presentation after a while.

TL;DR (Conclusion)

Overall, I thought the creative and artistic choices the filmmakers made helped the film more than hurt it, but I can see why this would not be your cup of tea. Your enjoyment of Under the Skin hinges on whether or not you like the slow-burn techniques of filmmaking to tell a familiar story with an unsettling tone. If you don't like a single Kubrick film or movies that choose to tell their stories more through silence than dialogue, I doubt you'll enjoy Under the Skin. If, however, you enjoy looking for metaphors in the material, there's plenty on display here and I think that Under the Skin is an intelligent film that mostly succeeds at what it's trying to do without stumbling too far into "pretentious" territory. And if you're into Scarlett Johansson, there's plenty of her on display here as well at the very least.