Under The Skin - Film 4 - Directed by Jonathan Glazer, Starring Scarlett Johansson
Watch out 2014 - There is a new "Best Film of the Year" and it is going to be tough to top. Glazer, known mostly for his stylish and powerful music videos, channeled both his inner Kubrick and a bit of Tarkovsky in this atmospheric, haunting, revelatory film about an alien posing as a beautiful woman and seducing men in and around Scotland. From the striking visuals to the necessary complex sound design, Under the Skin is more of a sensory experience than a literal one; exposition is refreshingly absent, but not in a head-on confrontational way such as the one that Shane Carruth employs (albeit for very different cinematic reasons)... In this case, the lack of explanation simply acts to focus on the visuals - ones which can capture so much power that explaining the exact meaning of said image would remove much of the power that the mystery within entails (if that makes ANY sense at all). From an eerily spacious, all-black set that acts as a portal into the horror lurking just underneath Johansson's seduction to beauty of a dimly lit beach (where other horrors lie), all meaning, literal and figurative, in this film can be discerned from visuals - abstract and obtuse but not painstakingly so, I was captivated from frame one, an effect that never dwindled, thanks to sharp editing and vitally sharp images, such as a layering of Johansson's sleeping alien over the haunting trees that adds a unique layer of emotional and physical complexity I have changed my interpretation of too many times to count in the three days since having the pleasure of witnessing. Much can be said about this film, from it's stripped down plotting to its odd but far from off-putting combination of over-stylization (in the seduction scenes) and hyper-realism (in the assimilation scenes), but it is never not thought-provoking, particularly in a particularly effective sequence involving a disfigured man apparently suffering from Elephantitis - a plot development that takes the film in an entirely new direction, all while feeling like part and parcel of an important if not fully comprehensible (at least on first viewing) whole. Some may be put off by the challenging lack of plot and dialogue, but if they can just let the movie seep into their brains (and their skins - elementary pun notwithstanding) they will come out in the other end highly affected, thinking about human nature a bit differently, and ultimately can see just how beautiful, effective, and influential a film can be, despite the endless amounts of images and sounds we are inundated with every day - in a world where so much of media resembles things that came before it (or nowadays plainly steals its entire creativity from it), this is a more than welcome breath of alien fresh air, an experience I hope to have again but one I admittedly might have to wait years for - a unique experience not to be forgotten anytime soon, Under the Skin represents a talented visionary at the top of his game - at least thus far - and a Hollywood actress taking a risk that should pay off huge dividends for how people view her repertoire of skills in the near and distant future.
Final Grade: 9.5/10
Night Moves - Maybach Films - Directed by Kelly Reichardt, Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, and Peter Sarsgaard
Kelly Reichardt is known for her minimalism and, as the man who introduced the Tribeca Film Festival I attended says, her restraint behind the camera. In a time when many moves live by the credo "bigger is better," her approach to storytelling and the potent visuals she uses to carry her films is refreshing at least, vital to American cinema at best. With her first outing since the grueling, methodical, and ultimately hypnotic Meek's Cutoff, Reichardt covers fairly common filmmaking ground: The heist film. Throughout it's runtime, I was shocked at how recognizable some story elements were, particularly considering her previous mood-focused works. Still, still is such an impressive talent that the film satisfied me nonetheless, if not completely winning me over due to a second half that doesn't quite live up to the potential of the slow-boiling, tense, and thoroughly procedural first. Watching three very talented actors (never thought I'd really be saying that about Dakota Fanning, but alas) play off of each other, whether it is silent understanding or passive-aggressively struggling for power, proved to be the best thing Reichardt had up her sleeve, for her penchant for subtlety and lack of unecessary exposition works to slow down the second half, which is almost fully focused on the fallout of a crime emotionally for Jesse Eisenberg's Jason. While the planning and execution of a job (details of which I will not reveal) gained strength through it's silent moments and subtle glances between characters, watching a fundamentalist slowly but surely lose his way just does not work quite as well when it is depicted so visually - maybe it is Eisenberg, who usually uses dialogue in such a forceful way that simply the way he pronounces words can move mountains - but there was something lacking for me in the final moments, so much so that when the credits started to roll (after a properly ambiguous ending) I found myself feeling like my emotions were not stirred the way they Reichardt intended. Regardless, her style and the way she decides to parcel out information is in such opposition with mainstream America, I could not help but support the story and the character arcs within. Even when they strained credulity (and mind you, only a bit), her confidence in her actors and in the audience to not be spoon-fed the motivations is beyond respectable. However, at the end of the day, I want to be moved by a film, or at least challenged, so while she is a director I respect and admire, perhaps moreso than any other American woman working today (of which there are obviously not nearly enough), I cannot say that Reichardt moves me, or makes me think about the world in a different light. I found the movie engaging, intelligent, but ultimately I cannot see myself revisiting it and discovering any new elements that bring to life a story that has been told many times before, if not in such visually arresting, nuanced ways.
(Perhaps this is because so many moments of Under the Skin feel stamped onto my psyche for months, but still, one cannot discredit the cinematic viewing context they view such films in).
Final Grade: 8/10
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