Under The Skin (2014)

An alien from ..... somewhere adopts the body of a dead woman (Scarlett Johansson) and proceeds to cruise the streets of Scotland looking for men. But not just any man, it has to be the right man. It's been a long ten years since director Jonathan Glazer's last film, the still undervalued BIRTH which just might be my favorite film of 2004. It was well worth the wait! This is one amazing piece of cinema. If you saw BIRTH and didn't like it, just skip this one too. If you want a film to resolve all your questions by the film's end or insist on a plausible and followable narrative, this movie isn't for you. If you want to something unique, something that challenges you, you might find something wonderful here as I did. Considering the superb performance Glazer elicited from Nicole Kidman in BIRTH and the equally superb performance by Johansson here, it would appear that Glazer has a knack for bringing out the best in his actresses. Johansson's near mute alien (a 360 turn from her unseen but vocal performance in HER) lures men to their doom for a reason known only to her but she soon becomes fascinated by the human body she inhabits ... and that's her downfall. The Scottish brogues of the rest of the cast (some are amateurs) are so thick that it doesn't even sound like they're speaking English thus making us feel like an alien on the landscape too. The film benefits from Daniel Landin's monochrome cinematography and Mica Levi's shrill atonal underscore. Hopefully Glazer won't make us wait another ten years for his next opus. It's only April but I can guarantee this film will find a place in my ten best for 2014.