Under The Skin, Jonathan Glazer's first feature film since 2004's
Birth has been dividing audiences from Venice to Toronto for its transgressive content and startling atmosphere. Basically Scarlett Johansson is an alien in human form and she's on the hunt for Earth men, for, you know, nefarious alien needs and such. An it only seems to get weirder (and possibly more human) from there. We at ScreenAnarchy have been digging the vibe of the film thus far, including a
teaser trailer a few weeks back. Kurt Halfyard, who saw
and reviewed the film at Toronto was quite taken with the flick overall.
Adapting Michael Faber's quite unconventional novel in a decidedly
unconventional way, Glazer and his co-writer Walter Campbell jettison
more than half of the source material -- the half that contains
explanation as to what is actually going on -- to focus on the female
predator at the centre of the story and her discovery of morality?
purpose? the good and the bad of humanity? Almost ritualistically, she
picks up stray, unattached men in the city, talks to them to establish
they have no family or friends, then lures them into a dark cottage
where clothes are peeled off item by item, dropping like leaves from a
tree, onto the glassy darkness of the floor. The men are pulled into the
room by the purity of sexual instinct, trance-like, and then...disposed
of.
Sparks your interest doesn't it? What's sure to intrigue you further is this new look at the film, not really a teaser or full trailer, but more an extended look at a brief swatch of the film followed be most of the footage we saw in the teaser.