“Jonathan and I have been talking about this project for three years… I love his work, that’s what initially drew me to this project,” Scarlett Johansson said about “Under The Skin” in a new featurette by A24. It’s easy to see why Johansson is so enamored with director Jonathan Glazer. He directed “Sexy Beast,” which made for one of Ben Kingsley’s best performances ever, he also helmed “Birth” which certainly ranks up there with some of Nicole Kidman’s best, plus it introduced most of us to the amazingness of composer Alexandre Desplat. And perhaps it was a leap of faith considering how much the picture is about the abstract, the unsaid and the mysteriousness of otherworldly beings, but Johansson’s instinct paid off: Glazer’s latest, “Under The Skin” is easily one of the best movies of the year.
A haunting, unnerving piece of work about an alien hunting men in and around Glasgow, it’s an arresting piece of work that showcases so much about what it is to be human. I’ll say no more other than you should see it, but don’t just believe me. The Playlist team has named it one of the Best Movies Of 2014 We’ve Already Seen, during the film festival season Oliver Lyttelton gave out 5 impassioned reasons why it was one of the year’s best films, and it’s really hard to disagree.
We also interviewed the brilliant Jonathan Glazer, who some are calling the next Stanley Kubrick, and we also turned up at a recent Q&A conversation he was part of as well. Suffice to say we are enamored with this picture because it’s all kinds of brilliant and restores your faith in the elusive power of cinema down to its core of images and sound, and how those elements in conjunction can impact the mind.
Two new featurettes have arrived that you should watch. One features Scarlett Johansson discussing why she took the part and what appealed to her making this film (it’s one of her best performances too) and another is a New York Times “Anatomy Of A Scene” where Glazer adds commentary to a scene and breaks it down. “Under The Skin” is in theaters now. You must go see it on the big screen.
