Under the Skin (2013 film): Difference between revisions
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One day the woman races to an empty building where she meets up with the motorcyclist in a similar empty, black void. The motorcyclist closely inspects the woman's body, leaning in closely, but the two do not say anything to each other. It is unclear whether the motorcyclist is supervising the woman with approval, or trying to clean up after her actions. After moments of silence, the two part ways. The woman then seduces a lonely, sexually inexperienced man with facial [[neurofibromatosis]] disfigurement. He's lured into the same liquid as the men before him, but the woman allows him to escape, and she flees to the Scottish highlands. The motorcyclist intercepts the man as he wonders naked through the hillsides, bundles him into a car, then sets out across Scotland in pursuit of the woman. Again it is unclear whether the motorcyclist does this with approval, or disapproval of the woman's actions. |
One day the woman races to an empty building where she meets up with the motorcyclist in a similar empty, black void. The motorcyclist closely inspects the woman's body, leaning in closely, but the two do not say anything to each other. It is unclear whether the motorcyclist is supervising the woman with approval, or trying to clean up after her actions. After moments of silence, the two part ways. The woman then seduces a lonely, sexually inexperienced man with facial [[neurofibromatosis]] disfigurement. He's lured into the same liquid as the men before him, but the woman allows him to escape, and she flees to the Scottish highlands. The motorcyclist intercepts the man as he wonders naked through the hillsides, bundles him into a car, then sets out across Scotland in pursuit of the woman. Again it is unclear whether the motorcyclist does this with approval, or disapproval of the woman's actions. |
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The woman appears to be experiencing a moment of existential confusion, wondering into a |
The woman appears to be experiencing a moment of existential confusion, wondering into a restaurant alone. She orders a slice of cake, appearing to want to experience a human activity for herself. However as soon as she tries to swallow she spits it out and begins coughing profusely. Wondering to a bus stop, she meets a man who brings her home, cooks her dinner, and gives her a room. There's a brief moment when the man is washing dishes, the woman is tapping her fingers, contemplating possibly consuming the man as she's done before. Upon a closeup of her tapping fingers the woman's hand slowly begins morphing into an alien claw, but she reconsiders and holds her ground. She examines her naked body in a mirror. She visits a ruined castle with her companion, who kisses her. At his house, they begin to make love, but she stops and examines her vagina, alarmed. The next morning the woman leaves without a word. |
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Wandering in a forest, the woman takes shelter in a [[bothy]]. She is woken by a commercial logger, who attempts to rape her. In the struggle, he tears skin from her back, revealing a black, glistening form. The logger immediately deduces her alien nature, and runs away. Composing herself, the woman then peels off her entire skin, revealing a black, chrome-like humanoid body. As the alien sits on the ground collecting herself, the logger returns and begins dumping gasoline all over her. The extraterrestrial tries to run away but is set on fire by the logger. She does not scream, or make any noises as she begins to burn away. Within minutes the alien has completely disintegrated into thin air, leaving no trace of her existence or the actions she had committed throughout the land before. |
Wandering in a forest, the woman takes shelter in a [[bothy]]. She is woken by a commercial logger, who attempts to rape her. In the struggle, he tears skin from her back, revealing a black, glistening form. The logger immediately deduces her alien nature, and runs away. Composing herself, the woman then peels off her entire skin, revealing a black, chrome-like humanoid body. As the alien sits on the ground collecting herself, the logger returns and begins dumping gasoline all over her. The extraterrestrial tries to run away but is set on fire by the logger. She does not scream, or make any noises as she begins to burn away. Within minutes the alien has completely disintegrated into thin air, leaving no trace of her existence or the actions she had committed throughout the land before. |
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Revision as of 12:19, 16 July 2014
| Under the Skin | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jonathan Glazer |
| Screenplay by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | Scarlett Johansson |
| Cinematography | Daniel Landin |
| Edited by | Paul Watts |
| Music by | Mica Levi |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 108 minutes[1] |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | £8 million ($13.3 million)[2] |
| Box office | $5,262,983[3] |
Under the Skin is a 2013 British-American[4] science fiction art film directed by Jonathan Glazer. Produced by James Wilson and Nick Wechsler, it was written by Glazer and Walter Campbell as a loose adaptation of Michel Faber's 2000 novel of the same name. The film stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien seductress who preys on men in Scotland. Under the Skin was released in the UK on 14 March 2014 and the US on 4 April, and received generally positive reviews.
Plot
In Scotland, at night, a motorcyclist retrieves a young woman's body from the side of a road and places her in the back of a van. In a featureless white void, what appears to be a naked clone of the young woman begins stripping her of her clothes. She puts the clothing on herself, and exits the void. The scene then moves to the outside of an apartment building at dawn. Looking up at the sky, a UFO is visible through the clouds as it slowly fades out of view.
The motorcyclist and the young woman exit an apartment building before the motorcyclist takes off without saying a word. The woman then drives the van around Scotland, picking up men on the street. She brings them to her apartment — a black, featureless void — where the men follow her into darkness and find themselves submerged in an abyss of liquid. Their bodies vanish, leaving empty skins behind, and their innards are sucked away into a distant red light.
At a beach, the woman attempts to pick up a male swimmer. He attempts to save a drowning couple, but almost drowns himself. The swimmer suddenly passes out after making it back to shore, appearing too exhausted. Using this opportunity to her advantage, the woman Ignores the cries of the couple's infant son sitting nearby, and strikes the swimmer's head with a rock. She drags him to the van, and leaves, continuing on her travels. The motorcyclist retrieves the drowned couple's belongings, leaving the child as the tide comes towards him.
One day the woman races to an empty building where she meets up with the motorcyclist in a similar empty, black void. The motorcyclist closely inspects the woman's body, leaning in closely, but the two do not say anything to each other. It is unclear whether the motorcyclist is supervising the woman with approval, or trying to clean up after her actions. After moments of silence, the two part ways. The woman then seduces a lonely, sexually inexperienced man with facial neurofibromatosis disfigurement. He's lured into the same liquid as the men before him, but the woman allows him to escape, and she flees to the Scottish highlands. The motorcyclist intercepts the man as he wonders naked through the hillsides, bundles him into a car, then sets out across Scotland in pursuit of the woman. Again it is unclear whether the motorcyclist does this with approval, or disapproval of the woman's actions.
The woman appears to be experiencing a moment of existential confusion, wondering into a restaurant alone. She orders a slice of cake, appearing to want to experience a human activity for herself. However as soon as she tries to swallow she spits it out and begins coughing profusely. Wondering to a bus stop, she meets a man who brings her home, cooks her dinner, and gives her a room. There's a brief moment when the man is washing dishes, the woman is tapping her fingers, contemplating possibly consuming the man as she's done before. Upon a closeup of her tapping fingers the woman's hand slowly begins morphing into an alien claw, but she reconsiders and holds her ground. She examines her naked body in a mirror. She visits a ruined castle with her companion, who kisses her. At his house, they begin to make love, but she stops and examines her vagina, alarmed. The next morning the woman leaves without a word.
Wandering in a forest, the woman takes shelter in a bothy. She is woken by a commercial logger, who attempts to rape her. In the struggle, he tears skin from her back, revealing a black, glistening form. The logger immediately deduces her alien nature, and runs away. Composing herself, the woman then peels off her entire skin, revealing a black, chrome-like humanoid body. As the alien sits on the ground collecting herself, the logger returns and begins dumping gasoline all over her. The extraterrestrial tries to run away but is set on fire by the logger. She does not scream, or make any noises as she begins to burn away. Within minutes the alien has completely disintegrated into thin air, leaving no trace of her existence or the actions she had committed throughout the land before.
Cast
- Scarlett Johansson
- Jeremy McWilliams
- Joe Szula
- Kryštof Hádek
- Paul Brannigan
- Adam Pearson
- Michael Moreland
- Dave Acton
- Jessica Mance
Production
Director Jonathan Glazer decided to adapt Michel Faber's novel Under the Skin (2000) after finishing his debut film Sexy Beast (2001), but work did not begin until he had finished his second film, Birth (2004). He and cowriter Walter Campbell initially produced a script about two aliens disguised as farmers, with Brad Pitt cast as the husband, but progress was slow. Glazer eventually decided to make a film that represented an alien perspective of the human world and focused only on the female character.[5]
Most of the characters were played by non-actors; many of the scenes where Johansson's character picks up men were unscripted conversations with men on the street filmed with hidden cameras. Glazer said the men were "talked through what extremes they would have to go to if they agreed to take part in the film once they understood what we were doing."[6] The championship motorcycle road racer Jeremy McWilliams was cast as the motorcyclist alien, as the film required a "world-class" motorcyclist who could ride through the Scottish Highlands at very high speeds in bad weather conditions.[7] The logger was played by a man who owned one of the locations researched for the film.[7] For the man with neurofibromatosis, Glazer did not want to use prosthetics; to cast the role, the production team contacted the charity Changing Faces, which supports people with facial disfigurements. The role went to Adam Pearson, who had worked in television production; his suggestions about how Johansson's character could lure his character were used in the script.[7]
Release
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.[8][9] It was released in the United Kingdom on 14 March 2014[10] and was released in the United States on 4 April 2014.[11]
Home media
The film was released through iTunes on 24 June 2014, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on 15 July 2014.[citation needed]
Reception
Box office
Under the Skin opened with a gross of £239,000 at the UK box office.[12] In the United States, it opened with $140,000 in four theatres, earning it the highest per-theatre average of all films playing that weekend, above Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which also stars Johansson.[13] Under the Skin is currently the ninth-highest-grossing film in the 2014 United States speciality box office.[14]
Critical reception
Under the Skin received very positive reviews from critics, with many praising Glazer's direction and Johansson's performance. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 87% based on reviews from 178 critics, with an average score of 7.9/10. The site's consensus states: "Its message may prove elusive for some, but with absorbing imagery and a mesmerizing performance from Scarlett Johansson, Under the Skin is a haunting viewing experience."[15] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 78 out of 100 based on 42 reviews, signifying "generally favorable reviews".[16] Indiewire listed the film as the fourth-best film of the first half of 2014, with its average critic rating being an A-.[17]
Xan Brooks of The Guardian gave Under the Skin five out of five and called it "far and away the best picture" in the Venice Film Festival.[18] Peter Bradshaw, also of The Guardian, said it was "visually stunning and deeply disturbing",[19] and gave the film a perfect score of five stars, along with Andrew Lowry of Total Film,[20] Dave Calhoun of Time Out,[21] and Kate Muir of The Times,[22] Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph also gave it five stars, and wrote: "if my legs hadn't been so wobbly and my mouth so dry, I would have climbed up on my seat and cheered."[23] Richard Roeper, meanwhile, gave the film an A+[24] and four out of four stars, stating, "This is what we talk about when we talk about film as art,"[25] while Christy Lemire also awarded the film a perfect four-star review, calling it an "undeniably haunting, singular experience," as well as calling it one of the best films of 2014.[26]
Jon Espino from TheYoungFolks.com praises the film, giving it 9 out of 10 stars and saying that it is "... easily one of the most visually haunting films of 2014." He says Scarlett Johansson gives a "powerful performance" but that "her entire performance would be diminished without the enthralling imagery to underscore it." [27]
Conversely, Kaleem Aftab of The Independent gave the film one star out of five, calling it "laughably bad".[28] Henry Fitzherbert of The Daily Express wrote "it didn't get under my skin, just on my nerves", awarding it two out of five.[29] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said that "the film provides too little for even relatively adventurous specialized audiences to latch onto."[30]
See also
- Birth (2004)
- Sexy Beast (2000)
References
- ^ "UNDER THE SKIN (15)". StudioCanal. British Board of Film Classification. 3 January 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
- ^ Wiseman, Andreas (24 March 2014). "Under The Skin: at any cost | Features | Screen". Screendaily.com. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
- ^ "Under the Skin (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
- ^ "Under the Skin | Official Competition | 57th BFI London Film Festival". Whatson.bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
- ^ Leigh, Danna (6 March 2014). "Under the Skin: why did this chilling masterpiece take a decade?". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
- ^ Jones, Emma (16 March 2014). "Scarlett Johansson on playing 'unscripted' scavenging alien". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
- ^ a b c "Under The Skin: Casting". Film 4. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Punter, Jessie (23 July 2013). "Toronto Intl. Film Festival Unveils First Batch of Films". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
- ^ "Under the Skin". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
- ^ "Scarlett Johansson's 'Under the Skin' announces UK release date – Movies News". Digital Spy. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
- ^ ""Under the Skin" Scarlett Johansson Alien Movie Release Date". Complex. 7 January 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
- ^ Gant, Charles (19 March 2014). "Need for Speed in pole position at UK box office but Under the Skin infectious | Film". theguardian.com. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
- ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for April 4–6, 2014". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
- ^ http://www.indiewire.com/article/the-25-highest-grossing-indies-of-2014-a-running-list
- ^ "Under the Skin (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
- ^ "Under the Skin". Metacritic. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
- ^ http://www.indiewire.com/article/the-best-reviewed-films-of-2014-according-to-criticwire
- ^ Xan Brooks (9 February 2013). "Under the Skin – Venice 2013: first look review". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
- ^ "Under the Skin review – 'Very erotic, very scary'". The Guardian. London. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ "Under the Skin". Total Film. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ "Under the Skin". Time Out. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ "Under the Skin". The Times. 14 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ "Under the Skin, Venice Film Festival, review". The Daily Telegraph. London. 9 April 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
- ^ Under the Skin Review. RichardRoeper.com. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
- ^ ‘Under the Skin’: Brilliant mood piece about a fascinating femme fatale - Chicago Sun-Times. Suntimes.com. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
- ^ Under the Skin. Christy Lemire. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
- ^ http://www.theyoungfolks.com/review/jons-movie-review-under-the-skin-penetrates-deeper-than-just-the-skin/30252
- ^ Kaleem Aftab (29 July 2013). "Review: Under the Skin – Even Scarlett Johansson can't save Jonathan Glazer's laughably bad alien hitchhiker movie". The Independent. London. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
- ^ "Under The Skin — review and trailer". The Daily Express. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ "Under The Skin (2014)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
