Scarlett Johansson plays an alien in Under the Skin, but she’s not the one who seems strange and incomprehensible in Jonathan Glazer’s gorgeous, hypnotic film. As Johansson’s character prowls through Scotland looking for hapless men to ensnare, it’s the humans she encounters that seem out of this world. Johansson can’t comprehend what these people are doing, or why they are doing it, and Glazer’s brilliant directing perfectly encapsulates how unknowable human beings can be; the fact that these characters have impenetrable Scottish accents only helps further this theme.

In press materials Johansson’s character is called Laura, though in the film she, and nearly everyone else, is nameless. Even when the credits roll, we don’t get character names, just the actors. Johansson cruises around Scotland in a nondescript white van, and all she need do to lure a helpless man into her clutches is simply smile and make small talk with him. One look at her and these men are hers. She takes them back to a spooky looking house, where they follow her across a huge reflective surface in a vast room swallowed up by blackness. The men are so enraptured with Johansson’s sexuality that they don’t even notice as they sink into the floor as if it were made of ink. The first hour of the film takes on a rinse and repeat attitude, as one after another Johansson delivers a clueless, horny man to his fate. However, when she picks up a physically deformed man, things change. She begins to notice humanity much more than before and on some level even longs for it. Unfortunately, try as she might, she is still a being not of this earth, and trying to understand the utter weirdness of humanity proves to be difficult.

Glazer’s direction is so assured, so masterful that I was taken aback by it. His first film, Sexy Beast, was very good, though it was nothing like this. An overwhelming feeling of anxious dread populates the first half of this film, which is then replaced by a more calm, subdued feeling, underscored by stunning, breathless shots of wide open countryside and swaying trees. It’s the work of an incredibly talented filmmaker with a flawless eye for what he wants to put up on the screen. Johansson is a revelation as the lead. I’ve always been a fan of the actress, though she’s never done anything like this performance before. For most of the film, she barely says anything; it’s all acting with her body and her eyes. The character is deliberately unknowable, but Johansson’s performance lets you go deep and explore the thoughts going on behind those large eyes.

Mica Levi’s anxious, haunting score furthers the unsettling atmosphere of the film, slipping into lulling, hypnotic tones before shocking you from a daze. Levi’s music mixed with Glazer’s direction and Daniel Landin’s stunning cinematography all work to elevate the film into a work of uncompromising, original art, the likes of which I can’t remember seeing in a movie in years. You’ve never really seen anything like Under the Skin, and in this day and age, that’s saying something. This is going to be a divisive film; I could tell several members of the audience I was with were growing visibly uncomfortable with the film’s slow, deliberate nature. Yet, if you’re open to the experience, you are going to be treated to something incredible. See this immediately.

9/10

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