'Under the Skin' may not be for everyone but it's unforgettable

Under the Skin

All I can say is wow.

It's too early to say if Under the Skin is one of the best films of the year -- but it is definitely going to go down as one of the most original movies of 2014.

I was floored by this film and yet I imagine few will be -- at least not until time and distance give it the reception it deserves. I'm still unpacking my experience with it, so forgive me if I'm being vague.

This was the most aggressively inaccessible movie I've seen since Only God Forgives, another consciously stylish and challenging movie. albeit one that critics reviled.

I loved that film but only because I dug what its director Nicolas Winding Refn was doing, even if it was more than a little indulgent. Gratefully, most critics seem to be on board with Under the Skin and hip to its audacity but I fear audiences may never be.

What most people are aware of when it comes to Under the Skin is that some are comparing it to the work of Stanley Kubrick and that its sexy star, Scarlett Johansson, gets naked in it.

I will address both points briefly.

I am a huge fan of Kubrick, but I think it does a disservice to this film's director, Jonathan Glazer, to simply dismiss his work as an homage to the late genius. There is a similar willingness to present his narrative at an emotional distance, to create a sense of dread with silence and music but this is a work of art that stands on its own.

Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin

As far as the nudity is concerned I will say that it is tasteful and wholly necessary to the narrative but will be totally unsatisfying for audiences seeking this film out for prurient purposes.

This is intellectual filmmaking at its finest and its arguably thin plot invites all sorts of analysis and re-examination. It's a movie I wasn't sure I liked while I was watching it and came to realize I totally loved while discussing it afterwords.

I suppose it belongs under the category of sci-fi, in that it deals with beings who appear not to be of this world.

And it does share some DNA will less accessible works like Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth. Johannson gives a startling performance not unlike David Bowie's in that seminal film. She is slightly off and yet totally engaging.

It's hard to recommend this film, especially to people who aren't hardcore film fanatics, because so many people want instant gratification from a story that spells itself out for you or at least gives you enough backstory that you're not totally thrown to the wolves.

This movies does you no such favors. It moves at pace that is beyond glacial (even though it clocks in at less than 2 hours). Much of it is wordless. And yet it is unbelievably tense and unsettling from the very first frame.

I will stop here and say that this a movie I only hope people will continue to talk about by the end of the year. It has something to say about gender, about sexuality and human nature. And it'd be a shame to see that lost in the cinematic shuffle.

They don't make movies like this anymore. And pretty soon -- they never will.