[YMS] So I Just watched Under The Skin and it was really disturbing.
And that's what it was aiming to be so I guess it succeeded.
The film stars Scarlett Johansson who's clearly not human.
And you guessed it, she takes advantage of lonely men and then murders them.
Now obviously this concept has been done before but its presentation is just
so fresh and unique that I kinda fucking loved it.
And this is why I cant fucking stand so-called film reviewers who
do nothing more than describe events that take place in the film.
Like, how the fuck do people even consider it a film review when you're saying nothing more than
"This happened and this was cool, this happened and I didn't like it, but this happened and that was cool."
Because unless you're pointing at a glaring problem or inconsistency;
Simply listing what happens at a few points does nothing to prove a films quality.
What's more important is how it's executed, and this film does a great job in proving that.
With a description like that we could just as easily be talking about a really shitty movie.
But in my opinion, I would say that this film is far from shitty.
I really appreciate the choices that were made in terms of how much of the story is actually told.
Because despite the story being ridiculously simple it never gives the impression
that its dumbing things down for you.
And especially only after seeing it once I have a lot of unanswered questions.
And even with multiple watches I suspect that many of them will remain unanswered.
So, whereas I suspect that some people will feel unfulfilled by the amount of answers there are on screen,
I find it to be incredibly fitting for the genre.
I don't know about you guys, but to me, fear and confusion go hand in hand.
The film makes it clear that what you don't understand is what you're supposed to not understand.
Where so many movies have failed trying to bring technical mumbo jumbo future science into the equation;
This film presents its supernatural aspects in such a way where you'll be wondering if what you're seeing visually is even literal.
Certain scenes in the film play on with entirely solid colour backgrounds.
And even attempting to think of how the lighting was done in those scenes is pretty mind boggling.
And because of how incredibly surrealist these horrifying scenes are being presented,
it really brings new meaning to the term nightmare fuel.
Despite the comforting reality that the things happening in this film will never happen to me,
it doesn't stop those disturbing fantasy horror-like images from now being etched into my brain.
I can't wait to watch it again to watch it again so I can desensitize myself to it.
Also if you want the full experience of these images do not watch the films trailer.
I know I'm using the trailer for clips right now, but I’ve edited out all the
parts that might ruin your first experience watching the film.
Part of what I loved about this film is how natural the characters acted.
Not only did Scarlett Johansson do a great job but everyone else seemed like a very real person.
During certain scenes where the vehicles stopped on the highway,
the audio of the cars going by and almost overpowering the speaker at volume,
gave an extra level of realism that helped sell the scene.
And holy shit, I did a little bit of research and found out that a lot of the extras were actually real people.
[Jonathan Glazer] I like the idea of taking somebody who is well known and putting them in disguise.
Lets do that with hidden cameras.
We can really film her walking down the street and nobody knows its her.
Our character was dropped into the real world and we were documenting what happened.
[Scarlett Johansson] Things happened in an organic kinda way that could never happen if it was scripted.
[YMS] Now there's a lot of repetition in this film and a lot of similarly looking, recurring, scenes.
But the way that each of these scenes showed more and more as the film went along,
not only helped it to be more entertaining,
but it gave it a really nice build up for the suspense as well.
Not only that but there was a very specific musical score playing each time these scenes happened.
Each revisit to this type of scene would mean a slightly different musical arrangement
or an entirely new instrument added altogether.
So considering that's essentially what the scene itself is doing without the music in the first place,
it's difficult to think of a better way that the music could have complimented the film.
Now unfortunately this film is not without its issues.
There are a couple points in the film that are difficult to describe without using the word unlikely.
And most of what I've been praising this film for does not necessarily take up the entirety of the film.
After a certain point I feel as though it starts to have some pacing issues, but overall this film was very impressive.
There was one shot that made me really confused as to weather or not he actually wanted her to be in focus,
but the majority of the film had some pretty mind blowing cinematography.
Hopefully a few of the unanswered questions in the film are ones that can be solved
through a hive mind of internet film geeks.
But I honestly wouldn't be surprised if I stay confused forever.
For a film that uses fear of the unknown as part of its selling point, I fail to see how I could let that bother me.
The few things this film has going against it don't really compare to
the overall achievements of what this film has going for it.
And this will probably show up on a list of mine somewhere.
For me this film is at least a seven out of ten and I can see myself solidifying it as an eight on my second watch.
But I don't know future me all that well and he seems kinda shady so I'm giving this one a seven for now.
(Slurred) Why does it have to be so difficult?
(Static)
[YMS] She just keeps her sedated
on constant doses of LSD.
[Person 2] What is it that she gave her?
[YMS] So she can get drunk by herself.
[Person 3] She gave her a nut.
[YMS] She is focusing in hard-core to this nut.
(Laughter)
[Person 2] Its so long!
(Laughter)
(Static)