Under the Skin movie review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic reviews....

Under the Skin is a thriller/drama from director Jonathan Glazer, and it stars Scarlett Johansson. It's about this alien woman, disguised as a human woman, who is sent to earth (specifically Scotland) to harvest human organs. So you know, fun family stuff. 

Now, Scarlett Johansson is really the only big name in this film, so I had high hopes for this being a great character driven story, and this film fantastically delivered. This character is incredibly complex and has incredible amounts of depth to them. This is due, in my opinion, almost entirely to Scarlett Johansson delivering an incredible performance. She is at an amazing point in her career with films like Don Job, Her, and now Under the Skin.

Another part of this film I have to bring your attention to is the outstanding direction this film has. Every shot and angle, you can tell the director has left nothing to chance. The cinematography in the film is beautiful, with all the shots seeming to have a deeper nature, and more to them than simple camera angles.

This film is also incredibly profound and thought provoking, creating a sense and idea of what it means to be human. As the film goes on, this alien women starts to learn things about emotions and the human experience. She starts to find out certain things about being this advanced a being, and things in our lifestyle that no other living thing on the planet has. Things you would never really think about, like music, or cooked food, or clothing.

Or even seeing your own reflection.

If you keep up with my reviews, you might notice that the way I'm describing this film is very similar to the film Enemy, which came out earlier this year. And although the tone and construction of the film is similar, these are different films. Where Enemy was fairly disturbing and I said a few people might want to avoid it, this is a monumentally disturbing film. I'm talking Clockwork Orange level disturbing, maybe even more disturbing than Clockwork Orange. So, this film has a narrow audience, I'd say only fans David Lynch or Stanley Kubrick films should see this movie.

Final Rating

Under the Skin is a brilliant and masterful film. The shots are beautifully executed, and Scarlett Johansson gives a captivating and certainly Oscar worthy performance. And although I wouldn't recommend a lot of people see this film, I will say I hope a lot of people see it. If any film deserves the kind of popularity a lot of movies get these days, it's certainly this one.

(Know I don't give this rating lightly, only a few movies a year get this. So the fact that I've already given two by April is a very good sign for 2014.)

Under the Skin: 5/5