Review of Under the Skin (2014) by Markgranier — 16 Jul 2014

I'm glad Peter Bradshaw (a critic I've sometimes found irritating) gave this 5 stars in The Guardian. It's a remarkable film. Though I don't think it's particularly scary, it is certainly disturbing and has that claustrophobic quality of nightmare, both sluggish and speeded-up at the same time. It reminded me of The Man Who Fell to Earth but is, I think, much more interesting. To quote Bradshaw's review:

"Between encounters, she roams, gazing at streetscapes, and making them alien with that gaze – like a Craig Raine poem. At one stage, she and her van are surrounded by guys with Celtic scarves. She is the ultimate Rangers supporter.".

Nice to see Raine get a nod, though I don't know if I completely agree with the comparison. One of the intentions of 'Martian' poetry was to render the ordinary exotic and strange (a kind of embossment of what most good poems usually do). In a way, the first part of Under The Skin does just the opposite. The alien gaze flattens and greys out everything, making street-scenes, etc. look even more boringly flat and grey (perhaps Glazer's main reason for choosing Glasgow). And it's the relentless accumulation of such scenes, and they way they contrast with other aspects of the film, that alerts one to the fact that the artlessness is quite deliberate (if you're disposed to attaching labels, 'postmodern' will do very nicely).

Also, I'm very surprised Bradshaw's review didn't mention one of the most compelling things about Glazer's film, his use of guerilla camerawork and 'casting': the encounters between Johansson's alien and the random men she chats up is given a generous dollop of reality because they were being filmed secretly and had no idea they were taking part in a sci-fi movie. Each one had to be (literally) chased down after the scene so that he could sign the release form. Apparently about half of them refused, including one poor guy who understandably took fright at being pursued down a backstreet by some looney waving a piece of paper. Maybe that's part of what Bradshaw meant when he said 'the film comes with a dog-whistle of absurdist humour', though I would have thought that most people were by now aware of this aspect of the film (one of its selling points as far as I'm concerned).

I had some quibbles, mostly regarding the initial impressions of the alien's lair with its tarry, carnivorous floor. It seemed too slick and pop-video for my taste, but be patient; it does, rather horrifically, redeem itself later.

Plot-wise, not a whole lot happens and the story, such as it is, is pretty grim. As The Blair Witch Project divided audiences, slicing a clean line between those who loved or hated it, so will Under The Skin. But there wasn't much need to hunt for vein in my case. It got right in there.