Under the Skin is a science
fiction directed by English born director Jonathan Glazer which is loosely based
on the novel of same name by Michel Faber. I on a personal note would like to
call it a Sci Fi horror as its pretty intense in its horror element before it
turn sci fi on a later stage of the movie. Whichever the way you put it Under
the Skin is a different and a brilliant piece. It’s a mind boggling plot that
makes the viewer jump their seats more than few times and a continuous guessing
game till the very end. Even at the end there is plenty of questioned unanswered
(at a glance) but once pondered through the whole sequence again or after a re
watch things can become much clearer. And still the beauty of this movie is
vast and unpredictable.
There are no names for the
characters here. They simply exist and interact with each other. Come to think
of it the success of the plot largely depends on this anonymity as viewers we
are incapable of making any links what so ever. The lead role is a woman (Scarlett
Johansson) who seems to be luring men to some dark abyss using her beauty and sexuality.
There are many men who falls to her pray but what they perceive and what their actual
fate is a mind confusing sequence. And then there is a biker who appears time
to time and seems to be some kind of a cleaner. How his job connects with the
woman is a secret on surface. In a surprising turn of events the woman decides
to go out of her routine and finds out that the actual human connections are
far more complex.
The movie made quite the hype
before its release due to the reason that Scarlett appears in it and she is
naked in some scenes. It’s obvious that her appearance makes the movie
interesting and she is the only actor in the movie that we can call ‘familiar’.
The rest of the actors are from Scotland and most of their roles are not significant.
Choosing Scarlet could have being a smart move to gain popularity but I wish
the role was done by someone else. If so the viewers could have witness a
totally ‘new’ reality and forced to engulf in a completely unknown and unbiased
perception. What Scarlet does the majority of the time is driving and walking
other than in the short frames where she appears naked. And the other
interesting fact is that other than Scarlet everyone else are not really
actors. They were picked up by the director to perform their roles randomly.
And the movie consists heavily with candid footage.
The mood and cinematography of
Under the Skin is brilliant as well. It’s is a key reason why the viewer get
instantly sucked in to the eerie plot. The cold Scottish landscapes combined
with the urban and suburban locations pumps in some sort of mysteriousness
right from the start. And it seems like those wide angle scenes speaks largely
as much as the close up scenes. And this has no quality dialogues at all. There
are dialogues that support the plot but there is nothing direct. Therefore
everything goes on is clearly and certainly depicted via cinema and not
verbally.
Under the Skin is an excellent piece
of cinema in sci fi genre. And at the same time it’s a deep psychological
experience.
Genre: Drama | Sci Fi | Thriller
Director: Jonathan Glazer
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