Under the Skin (Glazer, 2013)

Last updated on: December 17, 2014 at 9:05 pm by Kenneth R. Morefield

Under the Skin (Glazer, 2013) 2014-12-17T21:05:54-05:00 Kenneth R. Morefield

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

There are so many different ways one can finish the sentence “Every year at TIFF there is one film that…”

For most of Under the Skin‘s 108 minutes, my conclusion to that sentence was “…that you go to based on buzz and then remember that it was the director’s fans, not you, who were anxious to see it.”

After the conclusion and ten minutes of Jonathan Glazer’s Q&A I had changed my answer to “…that you really want to see again.”

Make no mistake, part of the allure of a film festival like TIFF is that it enables those who are so inclined to be trend setters, early adopters. I am not immune to this pleasure. But as with all other forms of journalism, the drive to be first–with a report, fact, or opinion–can have its own perils. One is that certain works demand more of us. They require us not just to watch but to think. When one has an artist, like Glazer, who is willing to experiment with new techniques and forms of storytelling, those drives often get crossed. I’ve often found myself formulating a review or a response in my head while watching a film, even (and this is the main point here) before I was entirely sure what I was looking at.

I recall looking at early reviews of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick and being struck by the same point: critics often have a hard time differentiating between something that is doing the conventional poorly and something that is doing the unconventional (or new) well. For that reason, I would add another conclusion to my opening sentence “…really benefits from having a Q&A.” Yes, I’ve had Wimsatt & Beardsley beat into my head for enough decades that a part of me gets the auteur who wants the work to stand on its own. (Earlier in the week Kelly Reichardt pleaded with her audience to not make her talk about the end of her film.) But talking about one’s process and intent can illuminate interpretations not merely control or coerce them.

Enough metadiscourse about the reader-response critic’s process. What’s the film about? Well, I want to tread lightly here, because despite seeing enough descriptions of the book the film is based on to convince me that a key fact of the film is not a spoiler, I do believe that appreciation for the film will be enhanced if viewers let it reveal itself and its meaning at its own pace. If you don’t know what it is about (and aren’t a viewer that needs to be warned off violence, sex, or nudity), I would recommend reading as little as possible before you see it.

Scarlett Johansson plays Laura, who spends most of the film stalking men. She finds them easy to pick up, and despite her rather direct line of questioning, few realize they are in any danger. Perhaps the gender reversal makes it simply unfathomable to them. Are guys not conditioned to think of themselves as potential victims? Is there something biological driving human behaviors or are many of them learned? By removing many of these encounters from a narrative and (more importantly) cultural context, Glazer’s film asks us to contemplate how we know what we believe we know about human behavior. The director himself opined that he thought the second half of the film was about “the drift towards moral intuition [and …] the stuff that makes us human.”

In addition to some heavy themes provocatively told, the film benefits from a superb score and an experimental visual style that merges a naturalistic pace and distance in the outdoor encounters with a symbolic and stylized representation in the indoor encounters. Glazer said the film started with a feeling, not a plot, and that he was looking for a language to “communicate visually how [Laura] feels.” Once I understood that, the film not only made more sense to me, it became somewhat poignant.

I go to TIFF for the opportunity to see films I might not otherwise be able to see. I also go to TIFF to see them with and within a community that is passionate and informed and can thus enrich my own experiences. We tend to think of criticism as being a solitary exercise, with each critic carving out and defending critical judgments unilaterally. None of us is right all the time, though, and those of us who are willing to listen (even when that means we won’t always be first to speak) may form judgments that we are happier about and that are more helpful than always and only tweeting that quick first impression.

Reviews

Toronto International Film Festival 2013

Jonathan Glazer

Scarlett Johansson

Under the Skin

Previous Post

September 6, 2013

Tio Papi (Rojas, 2013)

Next Post

September 20, 2013 Gravity (Cuarón, 2013)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 10 Years Later 1999 Top 5 2007 Top 10 2008 Favorite Discoveries 2008 Top 10 2009 Favorite Discoveries 2009 Top 10 2010 Favorite Discoveries 2010 Top 10 2011 Top 10 2012 Top Ten 2013 Top Ten 2014 Top Ten Best Picture Winners Christian Spotlight on Entertainment Christianity Today Coming Soon Disclosure Disclosure--AS Disclosure--Book Disclosure--DVDS Disclosure--SEOL Disclosure--Travel Dissenting Opinion Elsewhere Emergenetics Essays Featured Film Fest DC--2014 Film Festivals Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2010 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2011 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2012 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2014 Headline Interviews Laura on the Oscar Winners Podcasts Quick Impressions Reviews RiverRun Film Festival 2014 Television The Criterion Collection The Thin Place To Stream or Not to Stream? Top 10s and Other Lists Toronto International Film Festival 2009 Toronto International Film Festival 2010 Toronto International Film Festival 2011 Toronto International Film Festival 2012 Toronto International Film Festival 2013 Toronto International Film Festival 2014 Uncategorized Video Virginia Film Festival 2011 Virginia Film Festival 2013 Women's Film Festival 2012

Select a Month February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which book of the Bible contains the story of Balaam’s talking donkey?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Judges Numbers 1 Samuel Exodus