 Thanks for checking out this movie review video This is for the 2013 release under the skin starring Scarlett Johansson and it is an a24 film So if anyone watching this hasn't watched the movie yet I would say I recommend this so stop the review and go watch it because there will be spoilers in this but Do know upfront it is an a24 studio film So a lot of their films their horror films are kind of more artsy more slow-paced And this one is probably more so on that side of the spectrum than most of the a24 films. It's very slow. It's very artsy There's a lot more kind of like under the skin to the film like it's kind of says and I'm actually gonna refer to that quite a few times the So the the title means a few things in this instance. The other thing to note is I'm doing this review Recording of my review before I'm doing this for a live stream So if you I'm putting it out the same day as we're gonna do live stream So if you catch this on the Saturday it comes out that would be the 4th of July Saturday We're doing a live stream at 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time to talk in depth about this film If anyone has anything else to throw in about it or questions or whatever so anyway under the skin directed by Jonathan Glazer Who mainly in the beginning just did music videos and then he did the film's birth and Sexy beast which I have not seen either of those. I hadn't heard of birth, but I'd heard a sexy beast I know that got a good amount of a claim when it came out So he had a bit of a pedigree before under the skin It was written by Glazer and Milo Attica Who was then later replaced by Walter Campbell and it's also based on a book by Michelle Faber or Michael Faber. It's M-I-C-H-E-L. No way. So I assume it's Michelle So Scarlett Johansson when she was doing this film It was the year after Avengers came out the same year as the films Don John, which I do recommend I've seen it. That's a good film with Joseph Gordon-Levin and as well and her with Joaquin Fanix Which I've not seen but I've heard very good things about and I need to check out And this was a year before Captain America Winter Soldier, which I deemed to be probably the best Marvel film made I know a lot of people would refute that, but you can put your grievances down in the comments. I'm just saying The actor Adam Pearson who was used for this He was the guy who she eventually picks up who's who has the facial disfigurement So that individual his name is Adam Pearson. He's he has neurofibromatosis And is involved with outreach programs to prevent bullying associated with deformities He was cast when Glazer decided not to use prosthetics and contacted the charity called changing faces Which supports people with facial disfigurements So it was really cool to know that this is an instance where the individual is actually employing someone Who has the look they're looking for not going out and saying okay? We'll just get prosthetics on there and we'll get some other actor and That Individual ends up being very important to the film because that's kind of the moment where things totally change for the female Which that's how I'm gonna refer to Scarlett Johansson's character because she's nameless. Well, she it is nameless in this Well, I think for the for the context of the film it is a she but she's nameless so Just referred to as the female. That's what an internet movie database says the name is so just so you know Budget it was thirteen point three million dollars and ended up making only seven point two million at the box office So it lost money. Although I think it's one of those films. It's kind of It's gonna get a lot more attention as time goes on I think it already has more attention than it got when it initially came out So I think that'll kind of continue to build in my opinion Glazer developed the film over a decade. He started it as a big budget affects heavy idea But then he ended up working it down to being a lot more simple that way it was more doable for studios They'd be way more likely to green like that if it's like, you know, if you go to him and they're just like it's huge budget It's gonna cost a lot versus we can do this for relatively little budget But make it really good So it was just smart on his part because otherwise who knows maybe it wouldn't even have gotten done And I think it is a film that I'm glad is done I will say though It's not one that I would want to watch a whole lot because it is so slow because it is so artsy There's not a lot to bring you back to it I could see watching it maybe one or two more times and then just totally being done with it forever Just to kind of pick apart a few more things about it kind of confirmed some ideas that I have about some underlying metaphors and some things like that the the novel portion the novel the Novelization, which was the first iteration of the story makes a point of the of the female Actually processing human bodies for meat, but the film decided to keep it more ambiguous now Knowing that when I went into it, I could see that clearly those Scenes where they're in like a black room that you can't see anything else and the men Disrobe and start walking towards the female as she's walking away And then they kind of like go down into the black water until they disappear like that is meant to be a more artistic visual representation of Them being processed like that that processing of the human meat her consuming them and I think it's even put it's even taken to a Further degree when you get the scene where the one guy goes Under and then it shows him while he's kind of underwater which looks amazing by the way And then he sees another guy who had already been consumed by her who's kind of in a state of digestion basically because his you know His skin's getting all flappy and wavy in the in the water And then it eventually kind of like implodes all his bones kind of go away And then he's just like a flapping skin suit basically, which I mean that whole scene just looks amazing I mean in general this film looks amazing, especially when they do those moments where it's like the meat processing But a you know like I was saying a more artistic way of showing that but I'm not showing that I I dug that it was really good So this is really interesting the scenes where the men were picked up were not scripted scenes So those scenes where the guys were either talking to Scarlett Johansson's character while she was in the van Or getting into the van and talking while that she was driving that was done Unscripted and those guys didn't even know they were in the film yet because what had happened is Glazer wanted to make things very realistic So he kind of fit the van with a few different cameras in strategic Places so that people wouldn't recognize them as cameras That's why the angles do look a little bit weird because otherwise if it was scripted I guarantee they wouldn't use angles like that on those shots But knowing that going into it like when you watch it you can understand that like okay Well, this makes sense why they're using these tip these types of angles So he wanted to get a like real reaction So basically they they would shoot her going around and talking to these guys and getting them in the van and everything And then eventually they would reveal to them Okay Well, you were on camera and this is a production of this film and then they would get them to sign off on Using them in the film and then they would bring them into the cast because obviously they then had to go shoot scripted The like the meat processing scenes so these were not actors who just got pulled in the film Which I found very very interesting that's a really cool way to do things in my opinion and I like hearing about those types of Interesting behind-the-scenes things so this was rewarding for me in a sense It was announced actually just this year that they're developing this story for a TV series Don't know where it's gonna land. I think at this point. They're just kind of developing a pilot to shop around So we'll see if it gets picked up if when it gets picked up TV if they go the TV series route for this, I would hope that it's a bit less slow and probably Actually showed the processing portion like go away from the more autistic version of it and go more towards like a brutal bloody Version of horror in my opinion because I think that'll bring more people in plus I just kind of like to see that version in my opinion since I've already seen this version I'm not actually sure why but for some reason the very beginning of this film kind of reminded me of 2001 a space odyssey and I think a lot of it kind of had to do with the kind of intense music that was playing it looked very space-like and everything was moving very very slowly it was it was these very graceful smooth movements in a space-like Situation with some very intense music and that just reminded me of 2001 a space odyssey Which obviously is not a bad comparison to have made to a film because that is a phenomenal film that in my opinion Still holds up. I really love that The use of black and white to make a silhouette scene with the changing clothes portion that looked amazing Plus that's a good way to like not show a whole lot of nudity early on I don't know if that was kind of one of their aims But I just thought it was a really cool like the white background and then the bodies are not lit up so they look like they're silhouettes, but they're not they're actually people and You know, I was thinking about it too and I was like that's kind of like the moment of her Taking on the human life because she's putting on the clothing that she's putting on and that's why the backdrop is white for like the beginning for life and then all the times where she has the guys in the meat processing scenes It's all black because that's death. That's the end of life at that point now granted You could say it was probably the end of life for the person she took clothing from but it was the beginning for her So I don't know if people, you know with anything that I say like my thoughts on metaphors and stuff like that It's obviously just from my perspective. I could be totally wrong. You could hear it and be like Oh, I know I think that's kind of right or you could hear it and be like, yeah, you know I don't think so so you could put those feelings down there and in your own theories to be honest I mean, I'm down to hear it with the way this Sorry with the way this starts you understand It's like most a 24 for films that it wants to be slow and not tell you too much It wants to give you the time to really think things through as they're occurring and then also encourage you after the films done to kind of look back and be like What was the ending trying to say or what was the entire film trying to say now that we've seen the end? What does it all mean? How do I piece this together as you know, what theme was under the skin of this film and I like that about a 24 That's typically how they do it. I dig it I understand there are people out there who really hate that type of film and that's fair You know, it's just different tastes, but for me, it's something I particularly love When the female is shopping for clothes and it shows other people working on their appearance It seems to make a statement about changing appearance to mask what you truly are covering what's truly Under the skin. So I think it was supposed to be make a comparison of here's an alien being trying to look human and What's on the inside? What's under what she's putting on is not even human yet She looks like the humans around her who are different under the skin But they look the same on top of the skin Not you know what I mean not the same but from a species standpoint the same because they're all female humans So I thought that was a very cool juxtaposition that they were showing at that point Watching the interactions in the van make you realize how much an appealing look takes people's guard down that's one of the big things and That's one of the cool things about knowing that these were not scripted that these were kind of you know Hidden camera scenes because there's a you know genuine reactions of these guys just seen. Oh, she's very good-looking So immediately they're just nice. They're not guarded at all and Usually like nowadays if someone pulls over and they're gonna ask you a question You're not immediately like oh, hey, let me help you out. You're a little bit wary at least at first You know it may turn to being you know very friendly and open, but it initially you're guarded But with with someone who's very attractive in our society a lot of the times You're immediately more open to things and that obviously works for this creature for the female when she wants to go feed Because looking good definitely helps in that instance for luring The scene with the guy walking after the female in the blank setting and going underwater Yeah, like I said, that's the representation of the Of the meat processing but specifically as he's going down into the water It's showing that he is fine He's finally walking into her actual trap that she has set and that he is Disappearing and the disappearing meaning his life fading out and then obviously later like I said We see that digestion which I thought was just phenomenal. So Cool way to represent it, but like I said for the TV show, I'd like to see the viscera and all that A lot of it seems like the female observing humans and their behavior when she's hunting And one of the great things is the way they do the cinematography the way they shoot the shots and the way they show The female Scarlett Johansson's behavior and the way she interacts with humans Makes her seem very alien makes it seem more like she's in an observation mode And she's really just trying to soak as much in so she can reflect back What will make people feel like she is human so that she can kind of pull them in and get them to the place where she feeds Basically, and I thought that was interesting. They did a good way of conveying that in the film When the second guy is consumed and he sees the first. Oh, yeah, this is the digestion part I just put down it's a crazy visual. It is a very crazy visual like I said it looked great but it also looked insane and Gross at the same time The way the female looks at people and barely interacts is like a person watching a colony of ants Which I believe was kind of an intentional thing in the beginning If you remember in that white room where she was putting the clothing on and she found an ant on the body She picked it up and she was kind of looking at the ant So I think that was kind of supposed to signal that later on when she's going around just Observing all the humans the way she's looking at the humans is the way she was looking at that ant That's kind of like a different species as a you know She's seeing the humans is like this colony of ants basically because she's another species She's on the outside of it. She doesn't understand and she's trying to kind of research observe and See how they move why they do things socially the way they do because you know like us being humans When we look at a colony of ants sure there's been research done on them before but we don't know looking at that like how they're Communicating with one another. I mean we know through research that it's done by pheromones, but we don't know What all that means what that smells like how they're actually interacting with each other as we're watching and You know like how their society really works like because we're outsiders because we don't understand that word different species And that's exactly what's going on with the female in this And that's one of the interesting things to really keep in your mind while you're watching the movie is that it's crazy to think that There's someone looking at our species from the outside and not understanding Why we act the way we do and why we interact with each other the way we do and why we do what we do and it's just really cool to watch it that way because It's hard for us to think that way because we are human we just inherently know this stuff because we're raised into these Societies and it just makes sense to us because that's how we're raised, but It's just interesting thing about I love kind of doing these mental gymnastics to understand that stuff The part with the guys trying to break into the van Reminding me kind of of when you see videos of people going on safari And then some sort of animals will like jump on to it and start like banging around and stuff It shows kind of like a primal moment almost kind of neanderthal ish Which I think was intentional to kind of make a point of you know Men being driven a lot by their libido and the looks of women the physical beauty aspect to it It's just very nature, you know, it's based nature human nature obviously So I thought that was a kind of a moment that was meant to be like that When she picks up the guy with the facial disfigurement if I talked about earlier She treats him like anybody else because she doesn't see or care how he's different Cuz just like when we look at ants, I'm gonna use the same analogy when we look at ants We really can't tell the ants apart even if some are kind of different even if within that ant society There's one that's disfigured We don't really see that and she doesn't see that either when she picks this person up with the facial disfigurement She doesn't see that either. She's just like yes, this is another human being. This is potentially food like She just sees them as that and that's why she treats him normally and he's very like taking a back I guess he's not taking it back He's just surprised like he is a little bit guarded and he's kind of surprised He doesn't understand because of the way she's treating him So normally because he's not used to getting that from other people because a lot of what our society's geared around is physical appearance being the first impression and I know a lot of us, you know try to get past that but Even with trying to get past it There's at least that little bit when you initially see a person where you think oh they look attractive or they don't look attractive Or I notice something weird about them like they have a lazy eye or you know, they have a gap between their teeth or you know Whatever, you know, it's that's just where society is So so when she picks them up she treats them And differently what she does care about in this instance is actually what's under the skin and that's an interesting thing It's it's not a from the standpoint of she's more interested in you know humans being human beings It's she's interested in what's under the skin because it's exactly the same as her other victims You know, what's under the skin looks exactly the same. What's on the on the outside doesn't matter at all to her She's only bringing in guys because that's what's her what's easiest for her to get I have a feeling that she would bring in women too if it was that if it was as easy as guys I think she's just praying on guys because she's an attractive female or is looking like an attractive female and they come To her it's much easier So just saying I Assume the black being The black of being which is would be her you see when she Takes the guy with the facial disfigurement to the house is her true form I mean obviously in the end you you do realize that but initially when you're seeing it in the mirror It's kind of like what is going on here and that is the moment where She's starting to see under her own skin at that point To herself and that's where she's she is actually looking inward to kind of say Do I want to continue to do things like this and that's the thing is her not her deciding not to eat this guy or process him for meat is The the turning moment for her and for the the story really and the reason I think that she doesn't eat him is because of a few things because of one how he reacts to her is one of the biggest things and Especially if you notice that every time they have that kind of meat processing moment The guy is walking after her as she's walking away. He's pursuing her Within this this guy doesn't pursue her at all. He literally when they're in that setting with the black setting He's standing still and he's nervous and he's not pursuing her He's kind of just like so she has to come to him and that's a moment where she questions this and she's like Why is this different and then that begins to make her kind of think and I think at that point She sees under the skin in another sense and sees that this is not your typical Male human being this is something different and then that starts her reflection So I think it's a it's an interesting moment for that reason and that's actually why she then goes to try to eat cake where she you know she ends up throwing it up because she can't really eat that as a as being a alien but she She does that because she wants to change because she wants to give Being human a try or at least you know appear to be human obviously and then it goes further after that When she meets that guy on the bus they start you know having a actual connection as opposed to her just being like oh food She realizes there's more there. That's when she stopped seeing The ant colony from the outside and she's kind of gone a little bit inside and is at least at this moment Understanding very in-depth one of those ants and understanding. Oh, it's not just a food source. It's not just some you know Species I don't understand at this point. I have the ability to understand I have the ability to experience with these humans experience within the society and she obviously starts to really like it as Things progress towards the end When sex doesn't work with that guy You see the disappointment on her face. You see the disappointment on his face. Although. He's not mad or anything He just doesn't you know, he doesn't understand obviously, but she doesn't understand either She wants to be human and complete the connection with him at that point, which I think is a very Interesting moment because that's kind of the first moment that I think you Really as an audience member start to form some sort of connection with that Being because prior to that you you really can't because it's not like a human Perspective that's being used but once that happens where she can't have sex and there's that disappointment. She's She's showing a human trait She's showing human Emotion and then that's the moment where the audience starts to kind of feel which then makes the end of the film Actually impactful because otherwise it probably really wouldn't have been because if she's just this killing machine the whole time Just going out there on the hunt, you know, you don't feel as bad So when she kind of changes her ways at the end and becomes more human and as human emotion That endears her to the audience and then the ending matters when she gets set on fire and everything So I was assuming that this random biker guy who's throughout the film is like a male version of her actual species Looking for her and she's kind of trying to stay away from him I don't know. So maybe that's kind of like a metaphor for like spousal abuse or something. I don't know That one kind of confused me So if anyone out there has any ideas put it down in the comments, but that was kind of best guess for me I guess we'll talk about that with the live stream. I'll see if I'm sure other people will have some interesting ideas on that one In the end she couldn't get away from the sexual desire men seek in her Which I think is a metaphor for what women in our society have to actually deal with on a day to day If you're seeking it, you're a cold monster if you're seeking sex and physical and Physicality you're a monster a cold monster if you're not seeking it You end up incurring the wrath of angry men who are overly driven by libido and I think You know, maybe you think oh, you're wrong about that But I think there's a lot to kind of support that idea throughout the film at least the way I experienced it So I thought that was interesting. I have a bunch of other thoughts. So stick with me at the end here The cinematography is extremely smooth. There are a lot of Appealing shots. There's a bunch of really beautiful scenic shots and this it looks great It's directed really well. The acting is really good All the technical stuff is outstanding and this is one of those movies you look at and you're like Ah, this this Jonathan Glaser is an auteur. It's definitely one of those auteur movies and I like it The film actually could be a really tough sell for some people Since it takes its time so much but also because there's barely any human perspective in it. So that kind of Makes it hard for people to really connect and tell towards the end like I was talking about where she, you know Has has a more human traits It kind of does let me try and get the what's going on with the lighting Okay, that's actually kind of worse somehow. Sorry. Anyway It kind of does raise a question of individual species reality and how each species forms a reality within its own Society that's created. So this is kind of like her versus humans us versus ants type thing. I was talking about before How how do different species view each other? That's kind of like a question that came up for me They barely ever understand each other other Understand each other or feel any sort of actual connection basically trying to say that When we look at another species much like when she looks at the human species You don't understand unless you kind of immerse yourself in it and potentially could start to understand But there's also not a connection either because you only really connect with Others of your own species except for some other different things like that we've worked on a lot Over the years like animal husbandry or having pets like cats and dogs, you know That's taken a lot of time and now those kind of they feel like humans even though they're not humans. So Just something that kind of came up was When I was watching it, there's also a point of how strong our basic human our basic animal drives are But how if you can intellectually override those there's so much more to be enjoyed outside of the physical satisfaction the whole time you're seeing the kind of base human instincts of mating of feeding going on until you get to that one connection that the female has with that guy who's Kind of living out on the countryside and then you see that once those animalistic tendencies are overridden and it's more of an emotional Intellectual connection. There's so much more there like she's experiencing Excuse me. Like she's experiencing. There's so much more there to living her life As a human being as opposed to just masquerading as a human being to get food She realizes that she can choose to not just live that way and be alone She can have a connection with one of these human beings who she would have otherwise looked at as food And it's much more enriching in a different way. It's not, you know, it's not Nutritional sustenance. It is emotional and intellectual sustenance, which is pretty cool Oops, sorry Locking myself out of this my apologies This is my final thought on it when people in society focus primarily on what's above the skin It's conditioning people to act a certain way Leading to no connection and a society that operates with everyone looking out for just themselves Which is what you see in the beginning of the film Once you focus under the skin it creates connection and a more cohesive compassionate society because there's Understanding and in the end obviously that's destroyed what's been created there that all those connections And the females new connection to humanity by this guy who is obviously driven by libido because he tries to rape her until he realizes she's not human and then kills her because he can't have sex with her or Maybe because he doesn't want to get caught or maybe it's just because he's afraid of knowing what that is or you know Because we do have a problem as humans of I don't know what that thing is kill it that happens a lot, so But I just thought that was a really interesting thing to point out so the Above the skin versus under the skin of how our society operates and the ideal is obviously under the skin because then you can Have a better more compassionate society versus above the skin where everything just based on looks and being fake and Not knowing a person which I feel like you have to get much deeper You have to go under the skin in order to really Understand why people other people act the way they do why they say the things they say what their life experiences are etc Etc, so I think this is a really good watch first Time around like I said, I don't think it has a ton of rewatch value, so it looks really good I do enjoy it, but it could have been cut down. It was a bit too long and drawn out I do believe And like I said, like I was kind of confused this biker guy like what's the deal with that? But yeah, I mean other than that With the possibility five stars half stars in play I'm gonna go ahead and give this a three and a half stars mainly just because I think it needed to be cut down a bit and as much as I did like the artistic representation of the The meat processing I think they should have kind of paired that with something else You know, maybe have a little more actual dialogue to this You know like I said watching it one time. I really enjoyed it, but after that I think the value just starts to go down It had not much rewatch value, but three and a half stars I was between three and a half and four, but I'm going three and a half So anyway, thanks everyone for checking this out. 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