2013 science fiction movie
Rating: 17/20
Plot: A conventionally attractive alien stalks men, and takes them back to her pad, gets them to take off their clothes and follow her, and submerges them in tar for reasons that aren't entirely clear. Then, there's a guy with a motorcycle.
I want to start off with a warning. And a cliche. Watching this movie, you will see things that you just can't unsee. However, most of those things involve Scarlett Johansson, and I doubt there are a lot of guys who won't enjoy watching her in this movie. Any plot this movie has--and although the protagonist is a little more dynamic than I made her out to be in that poorly-written plot synopsis above, there really isn't much more plot than that--moves languidly, and a lot of the story depends on the viewer's willingness to fill in some gaps. And I imagine there will be questions, the types that invigorate some movie fans but frustrate others. Unless, of course, I'm just stupid and missed a lot that was actually pretty obvious. I may have been a little distracted. The movie dares you to be bored, which is the strangest feeling I could have even thought of having since about 97% of the shots have Scarlett Johansson or parts of Scarlett Johansson in them. And I'll tell you what--I think I would watch Scarlett Johansson do anything at all.
"Yeah, Shane, but would you watch her just drive around for long stretches in a white van thing while creepy violin music plays?" Yes. Yes, I would. "How about just standing around staring at people? Would you watch that?" Yes. "How about if it was a scene that lasted ten minutes?" Even better. And I'm not bringing all this up solely to objectify a human being, especially since I think that might be part of what this movie's all about. No, I'm bringing it up because more than any actor or actress I can remember, Johansson has this allure that is nothing short of magical. She draws you in, eviscerates you. She's not human but something better than human, and in a way, that makes her perfect for this role as an alien seductress. These poor Scottish dweebs, most with erect members, follow Johansson to their gooey doom, and with Johansson as the object of their lust, it's completely believable. So the deal is that I get to follow Scarlett Johansson for about five minutes while she gradually undresses but that the only result will be that I'm lost in this viscous void and will have something terrible and probably painful happen to me? Sign me up because that five minutes is enough for me. And it's not just Scarlett Johansson's shape here although that shape might replace the triangle as my favorite shape. No, it's the way she uses her face. She's an actress who knows how to use her countenance, and that, along with her every subtle movement in this movie, seems calculated and meaningful. And that voice! Oh, my God, that voice! Early scene--abstract lens flare doughnut-making dissolving into an eye shot and Johansson practicing her phonetics. I didn't need anything else--I was hard already. On the surface, the performance might seem easy, maybe even bland. She's playing an apathetic space being, emotionless. But there's so much below the surface.
And that makes it the perfect type of performance for this movie which has a lot to do with surfaces, things hidden. Surfaces, what's under those surfaces, dichotomies. Roses are pretty but draw blood after all, and sometimes the predator is really the prey. I think it's all written about in Proverbs. But what's the movie all about? I don't really know. A lot of it is an abstraction to me, and in a way, it reminds me of how you "understand" a movie like 2001: A Space Odyssey. You absorb things, you feel it, you feel different afterward. But it's difficult to articulate exactly what the message was. And you even doubt whether what you watched added up to anything at all. I was pretty sure that I didn't even like this movie actually, but I haven't been able to shake it since I finished the thing, and after watching some of it again--yeah, I know--all that incredible imagery just shines too much to ignore. Wavering trees, incredible special effects during what I guess is the climax, an infant sitting alone on a beach, numerous shots leering at potential victims or, during about a minute, a bunch of women. Or the striking contrast between the star and the Merrick-esque Adam Pearson, one of the men--the one with neurofibromatosis--whom Johansson lures into her oily lair. The visuals are drawn out to something bordering on monotony, but it's all so deliberate, and you just get the feeling that every image matters. Add to the visuals one of the most striking soundtracks that I can remember hearing. That's Mica Levi's doing, and it's amazing how well the score enhances the visuals. Loved those strings that just couldn't get along, that percussion that sounds like an elephant could handle it. It's not the type of music ordinary humans would listen to, but if it's what gets Johansson going, I'll throw it on the turntable.
I often give high ratings to movies that I don't completely understand, and I don't know what that says about me. This movie's one of those that elevates the medium to an art form, and I like its challenges. And the score and the visuals and the pacing and the mystery and the harsh realities that I think it's wrestling with. And lots of Scarlett Johansson. It's almost a movie worth obsessing over.
Please excuse the fawning so early in the new year.
8 comments:
It definitely took a good portion of the movie for me to fully understand the point behind the story -- the reason for telling the story in the first place.
So, the beginning is obviously something being born. Speech patterns being created. But, the incoherentness of the voice and the cold opening of the motorcyclist make it all mysterious with almost no hope of a solution coming down the road, so to speak.
Speaking of cumming, a naked Scarlett Johansson undressing a dead Scarlett Johansson...this movie totally knows how to redeem itself.
I digress. The majority of the first act is Johansson's femme fatale speaking to men, and inquiring about their lives/business/relationships. If they are family men or involved with friends, she disengages her target. The other portion of this first act is the alien's people watching. This "observer" part of the character I think is supposed to translate to the audience. There are a lot of shots of just people moving from here to there, walking across the street, herding through a mall. It's almost as if these extras are more important characters than our alien. The "people watching" element is experimental for film, and I thought an interesting move on the director/writer's part. We all people watch. We create backstories for strangers and random people. We wonder what they're thinking - what's going through their minds. The audience was the alien character for moments in this movie. The extras were the real actors. "Under the skin" would be "in the thoughts" of people. That's one element that made this film a piece of art.
The other strong piece of art in this was, of course the visuals. The contrast between the alien's world of stark white and the Earthling's world of somber pitch. I did feel like some of the shots were just bonus flavors at times. As if the assistant director came back and said, "I got some cool establishing shots!" And the director said, "Oooh, yeah, let's use 'em!" But, the landscapes and cinema photography is engaging. I do love the infinity darkness where the characters just disappear into voids. That's always creepily cool. I am curious what the script said about the visuals, though. What in the hell did the script say regarding the 10+ minutes of Scarlett staring at people? What was the direction for those scenes?
I felt like the first act of this was a little 2001: A Space Odyssey-ish (I think it's interesting that you mentioned it in your write-up too). There's little-to-no prologue, the exposition is cold, there's little-to-no dialogue. It's starts as a slice of life story. That was the feeling I got with both movies.
The point of this movie was, in the end, what does it mean to be human? Is it looks? Is it behaviors? Is it intentions? Is there a meaning and purpose to a human's life? This is all shown through a handful of key situations:
1) The first a-ha I got this from what with the deformed man. You couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking when she began her cat and mouse game. He was more than just another fly in the spiderweb because of the backstory you entirely infer. The alien's approach with this one had to be adjusted which, I think, was a light-bulb moment for it (Johansson's alien), as well. I realize I'm right when she releases him. That's the alien's first sign of empathy. It could technically be the 2nd sign if you count the fact that she was only picking up "single" men.
2) The alien's attempt at eating food. This movie asks the question "what does it mean to be human?" I think the answer lies in "pleasure." The alien's attempt at eating food is an interesting pleasure that we often overlook. I'm right because the food is a decadent, chocolate cake and not a Saltine cracker (no offense to the hypersexual cracker-manics). Interesting side note I got with this scene, though was after she choked, I had a random thought: If we are subjects of creator, why would he/she make us with such an easy system for choking? The tube we use to swallow food is the same tube we use for breathing? Intelligent Design my ass...
3) Nude scene in front of the mirror. This is the alien's first sense of sensuality. She is studying her body and realizing the beauty in the human form. Good thing she didn't get ahold of Steve Buscemi's body or Harvey Fierstein's or Shane Brashear's. I mean, seriously, could this scene have happened with 95% of the population in the world? If this was my scene, the only thing the alien would be thinking is "what's this sting do?" Also, I couldn't help but think upon my 4th or 5th viewing of the scene...what the direction was. "Just stand here. I'm gonna move the camera up and down your body. I need you to be totally naked, ok? This will probably take a while...oh, here's a space heater so you don't get cold!" Anyhoo, the scene is relating to sensuality and what it offers in the light of pleasure.
4) The final play with pleasure is the near-sex scene with that one lucky bastard. The kissing, the touching, the grinding all start sending signals to the alien that there's a euphoria to being human. There's a beauty in this body that it has never experienced in its own world.
5) The last way the question "what does it mean to be human" is answer is through fear. This was an interesting way to end the story because I was starting to think that the whole "human experience" was being built on positive things. I kept thinking "what about the tragedy of the parents who drowned and left their child alone and afraid on the beach????" ...."What about the moment when those men started accosting you in your van and you simply sped away in confusion???" These were situations that lit fear and sadness within me (the audience), but elicited no emotion in the alien. This is where is comes back full-circle. The alien retreats to the words alone and confused. She realizes that she needs shelter. She realizes that she's weary. These are experiences are also an important part of what makes us human. Soon, she's molested, raped, ripped (literally), and brutally murdered.
That moment when the skin suit is pealed off and the alien looks at its disguise is also powerful. This last 5 minutes is where we get the most information about the main character. Just as we had been creating back stories in our minds about soon-to-be gone extras, we starting taking in the alien in its natural form. The form is featureless which leads me to believe that it has no emotion where it's from. This is why the entire movie has been so important. It has no pleasures, no indulgences. It doesn't fear for anything or lust for anything or crave anything.
I guess the motorcycle guy is her superior? I don't know why he was necessary? I guess it was so he could intercept the deformed man. The only draw back to this movie was the fact that it was a huge "fuck you" to the senses. It was dark and I couldn't see a lot of what was happening. People spoke low and unclearly and I could barely hear. When I could hear, it was unintelligible because it was in fucking Scotland and I couldn't understand a goddamn word people were saying. And, it was just another reminder that the sexiest girl next door, Scarlett Johansson does not live next door to me.
A couple more things: I forgot to mention the soundtrack. I thought it was brilliant. The strings were obviously fed through a loop or a machine somehow which created this old world/new world sound. It was almost the primitive meeting technology (or the human man meeting the advance alien). It all matched the visuals perfectly.
Also, after writing about it, I wanted to make sure I wasn't trying too hard about what I got out of the movie. So, I looked up some reviews. Here's one that I thought not only lined up with what my interpretation, but also offered some insight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyW01TOyEKI
I watched the guy's video and thought he was a little superficial in his analysis. Your ideas were more in depth than his, but he does sort of validate what both of us think the movie's about.
First, you had me going a bit with the "SJ undressing a dead SJ" because I thought, "Wait! That wasn't her, was it?" They looked similar, but the dead woman was definitely played by somebody else. Whatever is going on there, it was ridiculously hot.
Did you find the "plot" difficult to follow? I really didn't. I think if I didn't know that she was supposed to be an alien before starting the movie, I would have been really confused. I wouldn't have put the pieces--the UFO lights above the building, for example--together and figured out the alien part on my own. At least I don't think I would. But knowing she's an alien, I think everything else falls into place, right?
I think the almost complete lack of dialogue is a very important piece to all of this. If you take what the Youtube guy said about outward beauty and people not liking and (as an extreme) wanting to kill what's within, that lack of dialogue is just key. How does a person really discover what another human being is all about? They talk. Like, really talk. Scarlett talks in dopey pick-up vacuous cliches when addressing the men for the most part. The talk with the guy with neurofibrosis is more revealing to her than any of the others combined which is exactly when her story starts to shift. The rapey lumberjack and she don't communicate at all. And even the guy who is nice to her and who she is going to have sex with doesn't really talk to her at all, does he?
So I think there's a lot being said about the way humans communicate--or more specifically the way predators and prey communicate--which is ironic since it's a movie devoid of communication.
Be right back. I have to do dishes.
I agree that she is making a very poor attempt to become more human throughout this which is probably the reason things didn't work out with the alien woman she takes over for at the beginning of the movie. I didn't think about that woman crying and what that could mean about being a human or the motorcycle guy checking SJ over for signs that the same thing was happening to her. In fact, I didn't even remember that the motorcycle guy and Scarlett were on screen at the same time.
I don't know what this is saying about being human though? I don't see it analyzing humans in a general way--like, what does it mean to be human. Instead, I see it as a very specific social critique of the way men (especially men, which makes the role reversal in the first half of the movie very interesting) think about women. Women are stripped up their humanity (not as literally as SJ is stripped at the end of this) as victims of sexual abuse or even (gulp) "innocent" objectification. And what happens to the men who objectify and refuse to look at real human beings when they look at women? Well, apparently their own humanity is taken from them and their innards are sent down a conveyor belt to God-knows-where. The fascinating thing for me is how the supposed predators--dramatically ironic here because although I'm pretty sure most men in the situation is going to think he's in control when he's (with an erect penis) following SJ across that blackness, the audience definitely doesn't see it that way--don't even realize they're the victims in all this.
And they are painted as predators. They're "chasing" her, they've got their weapon (the aforementioned phallus), they're the ones who are all ready for a wham-bam-thank-you-m'am moment (my own backstory, at least).
I like how you mentioned fear because the character shows no fear (or any other emotion) in the first half of the movie. None. I know when she starts to become more empathetic, but where's the fear come in? Is it after the encounter with the victim she lets go? When does the mob of guys lunge for her van? Is that before or after?
Anyway, I questioned why Scarlett Johansson would take on a role like this. It's a lot of nudity. If my interpretation is even close to correct (it seems a little simplistic to me), then she's perfect for the role as one of the most objectified women on the planet.
Man, this movie's INTENSELY thematic, isn't it? Makes me glad there there is so much space to breathe in there.
I had no problems with the look or sounds in this. I watched on a computer and had headphones though. I think I might have also had subtitles. What the Scottish dudes were saying didn't matter anyway.
And yes, I loved the score. LOVED! The repeated "predator" theme with the simple percussion and added abstractions was just perfect. I think it even made me hold my breath.
Yeah, I'm wrong about the dead SJ at the beginning. I guess I thought the alien always took the form of an Earthly SJ. It makes more sense that it's a random pretty girl every time. I did miss that tear streaming down the girls face, though. That was a clue/detail that I see as important now.
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