Film 36 - Under The Skin

Under the Skin - 04/04/14

I was amazed as I watched more and more people fill the audience during the trailers, I thought this was going to be a weird, art-house film that would have little interest from "the normal cinema crowd".  I think a few people may have regretted this Friday Night choice as there seemed to be a higher rate of toilet trips.

Under The Skin has no narrative, Barry Exposition failed to turn up and no story points are explained, so basically this film is exactly what you make of it.  You could add your own gritty story in to this and make up reasons for anything happening in the film.

Scarlett Johannson plays an alien (sort of) serial killer stalking males in Scotland to feed on and grow. Once she gets a sense of the morality or understanding of what she is doing, she decides to experience humanity. (Or this is what I understood to be happening)

Under the Skin reminded me of a Kubrick or Lynch style film, very artistic and suggestive, the music (or sounds in a musical style) was unnerving, I was pretty much uncomfortable for the whole film changing my seating position regularly, but not opting for the toilet trip as I was sure to miss something that would explain anything

With very little dialog, and no key plot points, just literally SJ walking round shopping centres, asking for directions or experiencing Scottish nightlife, it felt empty