“This is what we talk about when we talk about film as art” – Richard Roeper
“Under the Skin” is a science fiction art film directed by Jonathan Glazer. Was written by Glazer and Walter Campbell as a loose adaptation of Michel Faber’s “Under the Skin” novel (2000).
„Under the Skin” Official Trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoSWbyvdhHw
“One of the best films of 2014 ! An undeniably haunting, singular experience !” – Christy Lemire
“Under the Skin” premiered on 29 August 2013 at the Telluride Film Festival. It later played in competition at the 70th Venice International Film Festival. The film was also screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.
„Under the Skin is perhaps best viewed as an icy parable of love, sex and loneliness. A movie that plays as a kind of malarial dream, bathed in cold sweat and seeing hallucinations in every corner.” – Xan Brooks (The Guardian)
„Visually stunning and deeply disturbing: very freaky, very scary and very erotic. The story of Johansson’s alien begins with a mysterious and Kubrickian “birth” scene in a brilliantly rendered dimensionless otherworld. The alien is transferred to Scotland’s dark, rainy streets and it – she – appears to have a minder, who rides a motorbike, and secures for her a human bodyshape from a dead girl retrieved from the roadside. Or perhaps that is another expired alien whose shape is being reused. At any rate, our alien is soon up and running in her Ford Transit, seducing wide-eyed males who can’t believe their good luck and are quite right not to. And what is that alien doing anyway? Just eating? Or is she the advance party of a colonising power that has conquered England and is coming north ?” – Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)
„This bold, flawed and admirably out-there adaptation of Michel Faber’s Under the Skin novel about an extraterrestrial stalker opens with a pinpoint of light that may be a distant twinkling star or an approaching headlight – it’s impossible to tell. From here we move, via kaleidoscopic invention, to an image of an eye; a constructed gaze, human on the outside, alien on the inside – inner space from outer space. With a brilliant blend of abstraction and precision, this sequence establishes a tension between the intergalactic and the earthly that underwrites the subsequent narrative; an eerie tale of a space traveller inhabiting human form, prowling the streets of Glasgow in search of raw flesh. It is a striking attempt to tell an exotic story in a down-to-earth environment that deserves praise for its singularity of vision.” – Mark Kermode (The Guardian)
„Is “Under the Skin” in which Scarlett Johansson plays a mysterious woman luring men into a fatal mating dance, a brilliant science fiction movie—more of an “experience” than a traditional story, with plenty to say about gender roles, sexism and the power of lust? Is it a pretentious gloss on a very old story about men’s fear of women, and women’s discomfort with their own allure? Does it contain mysteries that can only be unpacked with repeat viewings, or is it a shallow film whose assured style and eerie tone make it seem deeper than it is? Is there, in fact, something beneath the movie’s skin? Why is every sentence in this paragraph a question? I can answer that last one: “Under the Skin” Jonathan Glazer’s first film since 2004’s “Birth,” is special because it’s hard to pin down. It doesn’t move or feel like most science fiction movies—like most movies, period. It’s a film out of its time.
I wanted to watch “Under the Skin” more than once before I reviewed it. Life got in the way of that. No matter: I feel secure in saying that it’s going to end up on my list of the year’s best movies. I saw it almost a week ago and it has never been far from my mind. Is it perfect? Probably not. It might be too much of something, or too little of something else. Time will sort out the particulars. But I do know that the movie’s sensibility is as distinctive as any I’ve seen. “Under the Skin” is hideously beautiful. Its life force is overwhelming.” – Matt Zoller Seitz (www.rogerebert.com)
Jonathan Glazer: “I must have that alien thing in me to start with. I do feel outside.”
„Under the Skin”
Directed by Jonathan Glazer
Produced by James Wilson & Nick Wechsler
Screenplay by Walter Campbell&Jonathan Glazer
Based on: “Under the Skin” novel by Michel Faber
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Joe Szula, Kryštof Hádek, Paul Brannigan, Adam Pearson, Michael Moreland, Dave Acton, Jessica Mance
Music by Mica Levi
Cinematography : Daniel Landin
Edited by Paul Watts
Production company: Film4&BFI
