Under the Skin (2013) is a science fiction movie that was directed by as well as co-written by Jonathan Glazer. The movie is loosely based on a novel by the same name written by Michel Faber. Below is my Under the Skin (2013) movie review
On the surface the movie has a simple premise where a strange woman (played by Scarlett Johansson) drives around in a white van and preys on men in Scotland. That’s about it. Most of the movie consists of her trying to pick up men and taking them to dark places where she…well, let’s not spoil that part.
The director developed this movie over a span of a decade, constantly going back to rewrite the movie. It started off as a big budget flick with some heavy special effects, but over time he decided to scale it back to a simple story that was filmed through a perspective of Scarlett’s character. Most of the people in the movie she encounters were not even real actors/actresses.
Since the movie was pretty simple, the director wanted to focus on how it was presented. The main character talks to the people she encounters in a way that would create trust and even evoke feelings of “I can’t believe this great thing is happening to me”. She has a smooth voice and she tries to evoke feelings from them, to find a weakness she can exploit. She appears almost to be gathering information on people she encounters while she blends into the general population. While she appears like any other person on the street, she also uses her friendliness, something that many serial killers are known to do in order to win people over. Men in this case are oblivious of their fate as they are wrapped up in a simple conversation.
The movie itself doesn’t have fantastic cinematography. In fact, it has something better – a haunting score and simple yet powerful acting by Scarlett. The score was done by Mica Levi. It is unsettling to say the least. It is hard to describe it but at times it can be a combination of a smooth melody as well as fingernails on the chalkboard uncomfortableness. On top of this Scarlett plays her character in such a way that she appears empty most of the time. By this I mean she had a blank stare that doesn’t convey any type of emotion.
She talks to guys she encounters but she is not aggressive. In fact, in one of the scenes she encounters a bunch of guys who attack her van, trying to get in. She looks at them in awe like she is kind of curious of their sudden change in emotion. She calmly drives away without much distress registered on her face. This is one of the reasons the movie is so unsettling.
Besides the van driving POV, the movie has some great scenes of a motorcycle speeding in rainy weather up a curvy road. This was done by professional motorcycle road racer Jeremy McWilliams.
Overall the movie was great. It doesn’t have almost any action scenes so it relies on atmosphere and score to create a sense of uneasiness. I would recommend it if you think these two things can stand on their own and create an unforgettable movie. WARNING – there is a lot of nudity in this movie (both male and female frontal nudity is shown).
Thanks for reading my Under the Skin (2013) movie review 🙂
