Film Review: Thought Illuminating, Mind Blowing ‘Under the Skin’

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Average: 5 (1 vote)

CHICAGO – Imagine a stranger taking a journey around the landscape of their destiny, and that only begins to describe the audacity and power of director Jonathan Glazer’s “Under the Skin.” Scarlett Johansson creates a character of undeniable mystery and truth, a stranger in a strange land.

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 5.0/5.0
Rating: 5.0/5.0

Johansson portrays an alien who looks like Scarlett Johansson, and thus can lure the men of this world – or at least the part of the world that is Scotland – into a void that they follow “her” into. And because the seduction is highly metaphoric, it reflects back to connections between men and women, the islands of human isolation, and the ramifications of our outer and inner selves. There is something so viable about the morality of the film, down to the last desperate and unfair punishment that the Johansson character must endure. This work of art is highly meditative, and eventually highly personal.

The stranger (Scarlett Johansson) begins her journey by stepping into the clothing of a woman mysterious procured for her by a motorcycle riding companion (Jeremy McWilliams). She then takes to Scottish roadways in a van, and proceeds to solicit men, and lure them into a fluid-like void, to harvest their bodies and make them disappear.

She witnesses and participates in several circumstances of seduction. In one instance, she sees a couple drown in the ocean, and then interacts with a man who tries to save them. In another, she picks up an individual who is physically disfigured, and takes pity on his innocence. After letting him go, she suffers from a crisis of her own existential image, and suddenly is aware of the consequence of her actions. This leads to her final destination.

“Under the Skin” continues its limited release in Chicago on April 11th. See local listings for theaters and show times. Featuring Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWillams and Lynsey Taylor Mackay. Screenplay by Jonathan Glazer and Walter Campbell, based on a novel by Michel Faber. Directed by Jonathan Glazer. Rated “R”

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Under the Skin”

Scarlett Johansson
Stranger in a Strange Land: Scarlett Johansson in ‘Under the Skin’
Photo credit: A24

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Under the Skin”

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