Under The Skin: DVD Review
The Movie:
An alien entity inhabits the earthly form of a seductive young woman (Scarlett Johansson) who combs the Scottish highways in search of the human prey it is here to plunder. It lures its isolated and forsaken male victims into an otherworldly dimension where they are stripped and consumed. But life in all its complexity starts to change the alien. It begins to see itself as ‘she’, as human, with tragic and terrifying consequences. UNDER THE SKIN is about seeing ourselves through alien eyes.
Artistic films have always been somewhat a favorite of mine. Through the creativity of the filmmaker they also allow the viewer to think creatively as well and try to figure out the meaning of the film but then there are films that try to be TOO artistic. Those are the ones that teeter the line between art and trippy LSD films. This is one of those films. I’m not going to lie to you, on my first viewing of the film I didn’t really get it. It visually looks amazing and beautiful but with very little dialogue it was kind of hard to tell what it was really about but that’s when you have to start to look at the subtext. It also forces you to concentrate on what’s going on onscreen a little more intently. When I saw it for a second time it all started to make a bit more sense and I could see what kind of story it was. I liken it to a tourist visiting a city and initially observing his/her surroundings and if the person stays long enough they begin to take on certain characteristics or in this case curiosity of wanting to become more human. There’s a substantial amount of nudity in the film but it’s not done in a way that cheapens then movie. There definitely was a reason behind it and because it was portrayed in an artistic form, to me it helps the film tremendously. The film truly is a journey that I think people should be open to taking. Some may end up scratching their heads at some of the scenes but if you go in thinking “This is for a reason and it’s not being weird just to be weird.” and you just keep an open mind then you may just find yourself enjoying the film more than you thought you would. This is up there as a favorite artsy film of mine for sure.
Special Features:
The Making of Under the Skin Featurette – A really good, in depth 40 minute look at the making of the film. This digs into various stages of production like cast, editing, visual effects and much more.
