Under The Skin: Movie Review
“A genuine revelation. We may finally have an heir to Kubrick.” – LA Weekly
“A grand statement on what it means to be a human being.” – Blankprojecter
“It’s simply one of the most unique, original and mind-blowing movies you’ll see in a theatre all year.” – Playlist
It’s rare to find a movie that has been so extravagantly praised and does not live up to your expectations. Under The Skin is an unbelievable and exotic masterpiece. It’s nothing short of what everyone has said it stands out to be and for that I’m truly glad. Very often you’ll hear a movie being exalted with immense praise and it creates a kind of pressure on you before you actually watch it. I think this time, for this movie I, alone, am responsible for the experience I derived out of it. My movie review will not be what it would (should) have been had I not read the book before I watched the movie.
Directed by Jonathan Glazer and loosely based on the novel by Michel Faber, Under The Skin is a sci-fi, mysterious and deeply beguiling thriller revolving around an extraterrestrial creature in a human form who drives a white van and picks up lonely, wide-eyed, single and eager men. The apparent stroke of luck always baffles these men after seeing this woman with deep-set eyes, a mop of dark black hair, but the most striking feature being her lips heavily coloured in with red lipstick. When she starts to converse with them, it is next to impossible for these men to believe that it is going to be anything else except a quick hook-up. The vulnerability at this stage grows quickly and even in the midst of the dark quicksand-like velvetness surrounding and engulfing them when they return to her place, they cannot seem to get past their desire and notice that they aren’t actually going to get lucky at all.
This forms the basic premise of the plot that involves very little dialogue and mostly leaves the audience to understand what they will.
That’s how the book is too, for the first half at least but words always bring a greater understanding with them, a ‘read between the lines’ that is somewhat obvious and you can reread and figure out eventually. However, Under the Skin, the movie, is not what the book is and I feel badly for expecting it to be like that in the first place. When a movie is loosely adapted from a novel, it’s best to look at both the media in different lights. To respect what the directors and scriptwriters saw in the book and thought appropriate for a cinematic presentation and what the author of the book did with his words alone to create that inspiration. Had I not read the book before watching the movie, I would be in a state of complete awe. I still am, but it somehow feels secondhand. Like I experienced this moment of beauty somewhere in another time through another source. I could compare and tell you what the movie does that the book didn’t and vice versa but I’m not looking to make a comparison here. I would only suggest that you watch the movie first and then go to the book to better understand both the interpretations, first individually and then as two parts of a whole. Of one thing I assure you, the build to the climax in both, the book and the film is absolutely perfect in both situations, different as the respective situations may be. The explosion of understanding that is expressed in both the respective endings is what unites the book and the movie into one. I couldn’t get rid of my unease at how the film was skipping scenes I had imagined in my mind when I read the book. I was restless and unable to focus because I was caught up with what I had expected to see. I wished I could unlearn what I knew just to be able to enjoy the movie for the breathtaking and hypnotic haze it was endlessly weaving. Alas. If you’re reading this, you’ll know better. My good deed for the day is done.
Caution: Spoilers ahead because this review simply cannot even be written without revealing spoilers.
Scarlett Johansson’s quixotic portrayal of an alien is so unnervingly beautiful and near perfect that you cannot help but feel maybe she got under your skin when you realize you are looking at all the human beings she encounters with the same distant and detached eyes. My words will fail me if I start to tell you what a remarkable role she has played with just her body language, her eyes, her honey-glazed voice and the unflinching emotionless expression carved into her face. I’m beginning to think if the artificial intelligence software from Her (voiced by Scarlett, herself) had a face, that’s how she’d look. Fur coat, black messed up hair and that exact same posture. While her voice in Her simply breathes humanity, there is a kind of intoxicating tinge to it in Under the Skin and it’s more compelling and unreal than any voice I’ve heard. Even for a moment you are not betrayed that she is human under that flawless skin.
The movie begins with a very Kubrickian scene and it’s rightly been described so. The abstract birth of Scarlett Johansson’s character in some universe as a biological process we are not meant to understand, but simply absorb. The vastness of the earth and landscapes, the fixed camera shots over these expanses, the uncomfortable silences at the perfect moments and the gripping story that succeeds without much talk and telltale are sure signs of why Jonathan Glazer’s direction has been credited with such praise. If you are not into art films, if movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and the like leave you confused and feeling disoriented about life, then Under The Skin won’t work for you. What you should try to understand is that these movies try to capture something larger than life in their own way and they are supposed to be unsettling until you can think deeply and see through them.
Scarlett’s nameless character is a female alien (I will call her Isserley from now on as per the book) who seduces young males, single and mostly on their own; unanswerable to anyone. The part that the movie skips out is why she does this dance when she has no intention of indulging in any sexual activities at all. Once she lures them to her house, a black, glassy, tar-like mist surrounds them as she walks backwards and undresses with agonizing lethargy. While the victim hastily undresses himself, he is unaware that he’s actually being pulled in by this dark black surface.
The movie starts out with a guy on a motorcycle who brings a body to Isserley that looks almost like her. If she is another alien like Isserley or whether Isserley simply needs her clothes is not clear. What we do know about this motorcycle guy is that he is her minder, of sorts. He keeps an eye, takes care of the victim that Isserley lets escape and finally in that last scene watches Isserley burn.
There are scenes in the movie that have been shot on the streets of Glasgow with hidden cameras. Even some of the men Isserley 
picks up are actually people who don’t know they’re being filmed. All the scenes shot in her van are filled with a queer feeling, a sensation of an outsider watching the world through the windshield of their car. There is also that fearful notion of a predator watching its prey. The entire movie could be shot in that van and it would still be a visual delight.
When Isserley meets a guy near the ocean, hoping to pick him up, she asks him, “Why here?” and he answers it after a moment as if the knowledge just dawned upon him, “Because it’s nowhere.” Just as soon the man witnesses a girl drowning and her father jump in to rescue her. Without a thought he runs after them. Isserley watches this tragedy with a detachment akin to the one she shows when she picks up an ant from the body the motorcycle guy brings to her. At this point the audience can understand that Isserley is not human and get used to the idea.
Isserley picks up all sorts of men. Unlike the book, there isn’t a particular type or build she’s searching for as a means to her obscure ends. There is a brief scene where we see what is happening to the men once they’re sucked in the black nothingness. We see that the men are suspended in the abyss and the life in them, the muscle and the mass is being sucked out. After which we see bloody red mass, like the mashed up remains of the insides of a person flowing on a factory-like reclined platform. Only if you’ve read the book will you understand what that means. If you haven’t, it simply adds to the weirdness of the movie.
The change in the pace of the movie creeps in when Isserley meets a guy whose face is deformed beyond recognition or probably 
suffers from a very ugly disease. She picks him up hoping to lure him back to her house but suddenly finds herself seducing him differently than she would any other man. The man here is different and oblivious to her advances. He answers her flirtatious questions in monosyllables and reiterates that he is only looking for a lift to the supermarket. When Isserley asks him if he has friends or a girlfriend, he replies in the negative to both. Isserley finds herself oddly connected to this man, and asks him a simple question while placing his palm against her cheek, “When was the last time you touched someone?”
This is the victim Isserley lets escape after briefly catching a glimpse of herself in a mirror.
What follows is the gradual awareness Isserley develops of herself and her new body. She finds herself reacting differently. The transformation is subtle but so powerful at the same time when a man she meets takes care of her. We see her trying to actually touch another person and explore her own self by doing so. Isserley is frightened, at first. Like any human would be. There is a scene where Isserley is so terrified of her body reacting to this man that she pulls close a lamp shade to explore this powerful space between her legs. It’s funny that some audiences were intending to watch this movie just for the nudity because believe me, this is not the kind that arouses, it will only shock you.
Isserley runs into the woods now feeling thoroughly disoriented and confused at this new understanding of herself. Her face, usually so brim set can now be seen furrowing with worry and fear. Fear of what? I guess none of us can know that for sure. She tries to escape from it and by this point I’ve all but forgotten that Isserley is in fact, an alien. The revelation in that last scene although quite different in portrayal from the book is done in a fascinating and convincing way and only then do you feel you can exhale the sigh you’ve been holding in the entire time during this beautiful nightmare.
Although categorized as sci-fi, the film borders on many more complex themes. What truly transcends the movie is the eerie background score that is almost synonymous to Isserley’s ravish appearance. The galactic, synthesized beats give the aloofness of Isserley and the alien feel of humans on the street the perfect setting. Under The Skin is incredibly disturbing and unforgettable in many regards; a deep insight into what we really are beneath our faces. If there’s anything that binds us all is earthly emotions of pity and compassion. It’s not clear if Isserley got too close to them, or if she wanted to fight it. But the most intriguing part is that whatever the message intended to be will get injected under your skin and once it has insidiously settled there it’s hard to shake it off. In my opinion, those are the kind of movies worth watching more than once.
Summer 2014 Reading List
“If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”
-Ray Bradbury
All of my existence can be summed up in those sentences. Summer’14 has been really good so far and quite exciting for all my reading indulgences. My recent book haul has left me extremely overwhelmed and also confused about what I should read next because each book seems to be competing and tempting me in equal measures. Here is a list of the books I shall be burying my nose in for the next few months. I’ll go in the order of the ones I’ve already read and then proceed to the ones waiting patiently for their turn to be devoured.
1. Bluets by Maggie Nelson
This is a book I read over a long period of time even though it isn’t a long read. Maggie Nelson’s words sing to me. They’re heavy and wrought with emotion. She is someone who leaks her heart onto paper in a way many female writers these days are afraid to. The book is a collection of 240 entries about love, loss, physical pain and the solace found in the colour blue. It honestly affected me in many ways because I, too, have fallen in love with a colour and often lead my life in a haze depending on the shades of what I saw to make me happy or unhappy. Bluets is a book that blurs the lines between poetry, essay and self-biography. I would highly recommend it to persons who enjoy references to famous authors, thinkers and philosophers and associate with colours just as they would with words.
2. Under The Skin by Michel Faber
I found out about this book from the movie by the same name made by Jonathan Glazer and starring Scarlett Johansson. I made sure I read the book before I watched the film (which won’t release in my part of the world, unfortunately). There is really not much I can tell you about this book without revealing major plot hints and spoilers. But if you’ve already been sucked in by the hype of the movie, just like I was, you’ll know that it is based on extra-terrestrial beings and what it is like to be human underneath it all. I’m not sure how true the cinematic experience will stay to the book but if it is as terrific and uncomfortable as the written word, we will have to keep an eye out for my movie review. Under The Skin is an ambiguous tale of an alien named Isserley who has been put to work to lure well-built hitchhikers from a Scottish land. For a long while, it is unsure what the end goal actually is, what had been done to Isserley to make her appear human and why she would choose to lead a life like this. Mostly, the reader is left to believe what they want. But when the real nature of her job is revealed it puts several things in perspective. Isserley’s character although so alien and queer it’s still very human and ultimately the message is sent across in a very stark way that under the skin, we are all the same.
Here is a trailer if you’re interested in watching a surreal and beautifully disturbing movie about what it’s like to be human being.
3. A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelley
It has been many, many years since I have felt this strongly about a book and could bring myself to admit that there was writing out there that could actually challenge my favourite book. I favourite things which I relate with the most. I think being able to associate and connect your life with the words written by an author you’ll never personally know and being bound by the secret knowledge that they can put into words exactly what you feel is a luxury every person in the world is entitled to. This is precisely why I loved A Gathering Light right away. That it was a splendid and exciting read and had the most satisfying conclusion only added to and extended the delight of reading it.
“Nobody I knew had both.”
These words will stay with me forever.
A Gathering Light is a compelling and very beautiful read about a young girl named Mattie and how she deals with her familial responsibilities, her dream of being a writer and the flurries in her stomach from the brewing of a first romance. Connected with a real murder at the turn of the century, Mattie comes across letters written by the deceased woman and finds out more about herself and what she wants than she could’ve ever realized on her own.
4. Inferno by Dan Brown
One of the main reasons I read Dan Brown books is to know more about cultures, practices and various historical and art references that you barely find in great detail in any fiction novels nowadays. There is always a lot of controversy surrounding his views and opinions stated implicitly or otherwise in his books but I have always affirmed that he is a brilliant author. To be able to set a pace to a story quite the way he does is rare and exhilarating. Inferno is based on a very interesting topic, Dante’s Divine Comedy. The lucid explanation interspersed with beautiful descriptions of various monuments and landscapes of the most picturesque places in the world, Inferno is one of the most gripping books written by Dan Brown, in very close competition to The Da Vinci Code. The plot twist and dramatic climax is done to perfection and is actually so terrifying that think what I might, there’s no escaping the hell on earth itself that Dan Brown has predicted in Inferno.
And here is a list of books I’ll be reading soon. If you’ve read them, it’d be great to know which ones should have my immediate attention and also any further reading recommendations are most welcome. Drop a comment and let me know.
- Aftermath – Peter Robinson
- Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris
- Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
So if you’re looking for me this Summer, you know where to find me. Happy Reading, folks.
Her: Movie Review
As the Oscar fever inside me is reaching its pitch and I have been literally gobbling down all the nominations, Spike Jonze’s Her made me pause, catch my breath and then want to write about it. While that in itself is truly something, I also felt like simply writing a review about this movie would not be enough. I’m not always very critical in my reviews as it is and you must understand this is more than just a story for me.
Set in the not-so distant future Los Angeles resembling a Shanghai skyline lives a man by the name of Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) – a lonely, sombre and soulful man just trying to pull himself together after a breakup with his childhood sweetheart and wife (Rooney Mara). Theodore is a calm and thoughtful man who writes personal letters for people as a part of his job at handwrittenletters.com. At the very start it becomes clear that Theodore is unable to move on. The frequent flashes of Catherine and their happily married life together paint us a picture of how different he used to be when he was with her. Now, Theodore is heartbroken and left to his own devices with divorce papers he hasn’t been able to sign for a few months.
Her has a very futuristic feel to it. Theodore runs all his daily technological chores with the help of his phone’s operating system. Theodore seems to be spending more time with his computer and his OS and we only see him interacting with the couple in his building occasionally on the elevator. So when he comes across a new artificial intelligence operating system that is designed to evolve according to an individual’s intuitive needs and requirements, he gets pulled right in. This step sets off the dominos to the most heartwarming and heart wrenching phase of his life.
The OS offers him a choice between a male or female and he chooses a female who then introduces herself as Samantha (voiced with a sultry, breathy humanity by Scarlett Johansson). Sooner than expected Theodore finds himself awed by Samantha and the way she expresses herself. There is something particularly attractive about the way she can communicate so clearly even though she’s only an OS. She helps Theodore to get out of his rut and experience more things than he ever thought he could. Samantha is also more than just your everyday Siri in the sense that she finds herself evolving everyday in her interactions with Theodore.
This brings me to one of the scenes where Theodore-blissful and elated, is spinning around in circles with his phone in hand, just trying to grasp and absorb all the happiness and exuberance he suddenly finds in his life with Samantha. Although that moment is supposed to depict joy, a certain intimacy that is shared by two lovers in a moment, the scene also paints a picture of loneliness and isolation. For a passerby who does not understand what Theodore must feel with Samantha, he is very likely to be termed crazy. That’s funny, isn’t it?
This is also the part where my movie review drifts into other territories. What might seem crazy to someone might be a perfectly acceptable way of life for someone else. While it is easy to condemn someone’s style of living, why can’t it be easy to actually accept it? We’re in the 21st century now, and I think we have all experienced those long stretches where you sat crouched, staring down at your phone, endlessly waiting for a message from your lover, anything, a validation maybe that would get you through the day.
Let’s take it a step further. When you don’t get to see the person you love as much as you’d like and your relationship feels like it’s entirely based on messages and last seen timestamps. Is that not real then? Would you like to argue how that cannot possibly take away the essence of your love and instead enhance it in a more revitalizing way. What happens when you see someone on a computer screen on Skype or on Instagram more than you do in person, does that somehow make it ‘not real’?
Then why should we be so critical about Samantha and Theodore’s love?
The genius of this film is that there is no technical reasoning about the limits of the OS, its potential or lack of it. That in itself makes you feel that maybe, just maybe Theodore and Samantha are destined to be. You start picturing Samantha’s husky voice over the phone as a long-distance lover on the other end, as human and as real as Theodore. Amidst it all, you still know that she’s an OS and that this is a love without any kind of physical presence or confirmations.
Is that enough?
Which brings me to the part where things in your ‘not so real relationship’ have actually gotten to a point where you have met the person to whom the voice belongs. Learnt how they touch their hair, not just the side of the bed they sleep on but also the way their body curves when they do. You’ve figured that aural sex would probably never equal oral sex, and there is something deeply saddening to be able to settle for the prior after having experienced the two. You return to your life and try to focus on being together whilst you are actually apart and leading your own lives. You call them and text them just like before, but somehow 25 text messages a day do not cut the deal anymore. It’s not enough. You try your hardest to explain that it’s not that you want more of their time but you just need more of the ‘real’ thing. What is the reason for this sudden longing? Why are you being so greedy? You don’t understand but it’s an unnerving worry that doesn’t go away and is difficult to hide when you Skype with them next.
This is something that Theodore and Samantha do not face. They’re not greedy; neither do they have unreasonable expectations from each other. Theodore loves Samantha and he is happy to just have her love him back, really that is all. When Theodore’s wife accuses him of always wanting to be in a relationship without having to face the challenges of actually being in one, Theodore is thoroughly hurt. But what I love is how he has faith, he knows that whether human or not, Samantha understands and it’s futile to ponder over what someone else thinks of them. Just like a normal relationship, they experience highs and lows, bouts of jealousy, passion and desire. Samantha does her very best to make Theodore feel at ease with the complicated relationship they have, Samantha makes it look so easy, that it somehow makes you wish your life could be so convenient.
As we all know in our deepest selves, stories like these will always have a tinge of sadness and soon enough things go sour and Theodore’s fantasy comes undone. It is heartbreaking to watch him disintegrate like that, for the second time. It is undeniably as real a breakup as he had with Catherine. He ultimately turns to his friend living in the adjacent apartment who also seems to have gone through something similar. What they share in that last scene, it is not some kind of glimpse into them getting together in the probable future, they share their pain. They are both intensely aware of their heart being mangled inside out and need some kind of reassurance that they are not insane. It is not a plea for human touch but at the same time, it underlines the fact that reality, tangibility will always be constant in the face of fantasy. Which made me think that maybe happiness, love, vulnerability are more closely linked to a certain kind of spirituality, an introspection, too. Maybe what you think is going to make you happy doesn’t necessarily need to have a physical form or structure. The intricacies of your lover can exist entirely in your head and still satisfy you if you truly trust yourself and what you want. I’m also not saying that will end well.
I suspect many people will see this movie as some sort of satire, a kind of deliberate mocking at our progressively technological lives which culminates in alienation from human touch and emotions. At the same time, the movie expands on the various aspects of social interactions as well and why sometimes disappointments and continuous failed attempts at trying to reach out to another human being could lead to us moving towards something less unpredictably volatile.
The movie does such a beautiful and delicate job at pulling us into the minds of its characters and what defines them. We are so accustomed to watching a love story with a cinematic feel to it, waiting for what will be the next move. Spike Jonze’s Her has stirred a revolution in the kind of care that is exhibited in showcasing human nature and its complexity. There is a scene where Samantha asks Theodore in complete innocence,”How do you share your life with someone?” and this question attempts to be answered throughout the movie. In an age of information overshare and also the convenience with which we can select what to share online and what to conceal, what is it like really sharing your life with another person? In that sense, whether it has a futuristic take or not, whether or not you watch Her 20 years later or even right now, it is in many ways timeless.
Sloppy Etymology 