With only his third film in nearly fifteen years, Jonathan Glazer marks his return to the big screen with Under The Skin, an adaptation of Michel Faber’s cult novel of the same name.
Eschewing a clear narrative, the action centres around an alien, ostensibly sent to Earth (well, Glasgow) on a mission to round up and lure lone men to their deaths so their bodies can be used for unclear but seemingly nefarious purposes.
In her best work since Lost In Translation, Scarlett Johansson exudes a quiet charisma and complex vulnerability as the alien protagonist. Indeed there is something alien in itself about Johansson, dressed in a black wig and sporting a plummy English accent, driving a white van through a council estate, her pale iridescence piercing the dark tones of Daniel Landin’s gorgeously underlit cinematography.
Many early scenes are filmed with hidden cameras as Johansson interacts with unwitting citizens, allowing us to get a realistic glimpse of the people and places around the city as we join the extra-terrestrial visitor in observing human society with fresh eyes. As might be expected, it’s rarely pretty.
From the outset, it is clear that what Glazer lacks in prolificacy he makes up for in ambition, with the visually stunning opening sequence drawing us in with its extraordinary special effects. And it’s no surprise that, as the director of some of the most memorable advertisements and music videos of the past two decades (think Jamiroquai’s Virtual Insanity), Glazer has a keen eye for an arresting image.
What’s remarkable, however, is that this film is much more than just a collection of those stunning images; it manages to transcend this and, despite the first act becoming somewhat monotonous, Mica Levi’s disquieting score allows the meandering pace to build with a curious tension.
On the down side, the film trips up in its approach to gender politics, but only because it probably tries to explore sexuality in too many ways. It bares its feminist teeth without having the courage to take a proper bite, instead descending into misandry, with virtually every male character being reduced, often literally, to a walking erection.
Needless to say, Under The Skin isn’t the perfect date movie. It will frustrate those in search of an engrossing story. Instead it provides an all-encompassing sensory experience, with startling visual drama at every turn. Disturbing and uncanny, its troubling depiction of our world in its most beautiful and brutal forms will make you question what you have just seen. And that’s never a bad thing.
