Alot of Style, but not much Story. Today's Film is Under the Skin, a 2013 Sci-Fi Film Directed by Jonathan Glazer. This one comes with a lot of Critics citing it as 'great' and 'mind-blowing.' Is it though? The Film tells the tale of an alien lady coming to Earth to...um...something with dark ooze. Yeah, I got nothing. There is nary a Plot here, so just enjoy the weird visuals and Scarlet Johansson staring aimlessly. It isn't a bad Performance...but I don't know what it is supposed to be telling me. Is being 'an Art Film' an excuse to not really tell a Story? Is the kind of thing I would have dumped on Bob if it didn't have a topless Scarlet Johansson in it? Will I offend anyone with my disinterest in this Film? To find out, stare on...
After random shots of the sky and lights, this Biker takes a dead body to a Van.
In said Van, a naked Johansson takes the woman's clothes. I guess shopping was out of the question on the Holodeck here.
Now with clothes, the mysterious lady begins to wander around Scotland. Are you beginning the invasion in Edinburgh? Alright then.
She picks up a guy from a Club and they go back to a dark Room. They walk forward and...well..
He sinks into the dark void of...something. He spots another victim in it and, well...
He kind of falls apart and his skin floats away. Explanation?
Oh and I guess their guts on going on some sort of conveyor belt to...somewhere. Neat and all...but confusing as all hell.
She later picks up a disfigured man (no make-up here, folks!) and takes him for the process...but then
...nah, I won't SPOIL it. Instead, I'll leave you with this super-arty shot. The End.
It can be pretty. It can be visually-interesting. It can seem like it has a Plot at times. Sadly, the good moments make up maybe 20 minutes or so. Other than that, there is alot of silent staring, Alot of silent staring. Staring. Staring. Staring. We get it, Scarlet- you are trying to be deep. If there is nothing behind the attempt though, it just seems silly. There is definite potential here. Unfortunately, I'd rather see someone else do this Story. Nothing against Jonathan Glazer personally, but he just drains the life out of the Story for me. It is already a big change for the Book- which has 2 Aliens for starters-, so it is not like he was keeping the thing accurate. There has to be a middle-ground between schlock like Species (as fun as it can be) and Under the Skin. Right? Oh right- there's Invasion of the Body Snatchers (like 10x). Admittedly none of them have this...
Next up, I jump back to the Sons of Kong set. Bela Lugosi makes his second appearance here so this is already better. Stay tuned...
I wish you would have seen this on the big screen. Even though you're not a fan of it, you sure would have liked it a tad more because it's sooo fucking impressive seeing it in a theater. I had the chance to see it twice, yay me :)
ReplyDeleteI watched it without knowing anything about it... or even who was in it... and liked it a lot. It was all about atmosphere to me... taking its time to get me into a strange mindspace.
ReplyDeleteIt kind of reminded me, in mood only, of an older Japanese movie, Maborosi.