Stuart:

‘An alien seductress preys on the population of Scotland’. Or at least, so says the description on IMDb. There isn’t really much in Under the Skin that clues you in to the alien bit. Scarlett Johansson plays the said seductress, though she could easily be your average run-of-the-mill serial killer, an escaped government experiment or some kind of mutant. Because Under the Skin is the type of film that wants you to fill in the gaps. Or something.

Jonathan Glazer is in full arthouse mode here, so if you’re not one who has a lot of patience for long, quiet, contemplative shots where nothing much happens, then the film isn’t for you. Johansson spends a lot of time driving around in her van, tracking down potential victims – who are occasionally played by real bystanders, apparently – and then dispatches them in the most abstract way possible.

Under the Skin isn’t without its high points. There are a couple of good shocks to be had, and an occasionally creepy tone, but the film didn’t draw me in. I think the filmmakers were aiming, tonally speaking, for a dream that’s slowly shifting to nightmare, but I felt detached throughout. ‘An arthouse version of Species’ would be a pretty accurate description of the film, though I can’t imagine that many sci-fi buffs would be overjoyed at the experience.

Mica Levi’s musical score gives the film a subtle otherworldly rhythm and makes a lot of the potentially dull scenes more interesting. Johansson is decent in the lead role, though she’s not particularly memorable. She’s certainly impressed more in other roles. The people she meets along the way are forgettable, aside from one in particular, who features in the film’s best scene (which I won’t spoil), but the fact that there are no character names gives you a good indication of what to expect.

I don’t have a problem with films that aren’t tied down by a narrative, but Under the Skin simply feels pointless. It meanders to an admittedly memorable conclusion, but once the credits roll, you find yourself wondering whether it had anything interesting to say at all. “Something bad happened here,” indeed.  This is a film only for diehard art film fans and who consider sticking with a slow movie to be a fun challenge. As for me, perhaps my Cremaster Cycle days are behind me, after all…