Director: Jonathan Glazer
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Lynsey Taylor Mackay
My Rating: Loved It!!
Easily one of the better films I've seen in the past year or so.
This one is definitely not for the casual movie goer. For instance, if a fan of Scarlett Johansson happens to come across this movie and watches it because she's in it, they most likely won't have any clue what in the fuck is going on. Under the Skin requires the viewer to fill in gaps with their mind, which is my favorite quality of the movie. It really makes the viewer think. I saw it months ago and I still find myself pondering it sometimes. Seriously, I can't wait to see it again.
Under the Skin is about an alien coming down to earth for unknown reasons, but it can be implied that it needs the skin of humans for some reason. These scenes in which the alien gets the people's skins are wonderful, because they're presented as very minimalistic visual metaphors (I guess is a good way of putting it). Through the alien (Johansson) we get to see our world through the lens of someone not accustomed to it at all, which is super interesting. It gets down to how completely strange and unusual this thing that we call life as humans really is.
The last few moments of this movie are so great. I can't praise it enough. I won't give it away, but it's awesome. If you like movies that don't spell out every little thing to the viewer, then Under the Skin really is the movie for you. In all seriousness, I bet if some people didn't go into the film knowing it was about an alien, they wouldn't even figure that out. Yeah, it's that cryptic, but that's also the reason why I think it's brilliant. It leaves a lasting impression like how most of Stanley Kubrick's films do. High praise, indeed.