Under The Skin!!!!

Under The Skin.

Hearing nothing but good reviews from a film, you kind of think to yourself that it can't be true but I have to admit that it did live up to the reviews. If not it surpassed my expectations as a film and will definitely go straight into my top films of all time as this film is incredible in its own rights. 

Starting with the most haunting of strings sounds you see the formation of what looks like a black pupil becoming a human eye but could be portrayed as an alien egg into birth. Watching a naked woman character (Scarlett Johansson) strip the clothes off the body off her dead doppelgänger and put them on just to confuse you. Dropped off in the countryside by a lone biker and left the keys to a white transit van the woman drives off into the unknown. 

Walking through busy shopping centres and looking around at the world you feel the character is learning how to adapt, language, mannerisms and how to act are all absorbed. Driving along the roads she stops and talks to men at the side of the road, asking for directions and giving them a lift to places she plays on their vulnerability. They are soon enticed by her as she takes them back to her house where she takes them for her own. Walking along and stripping off her clothes the men follow only to slowly walk into a thick black liquid never to be seen again.

As she learns about the world she starts to slip up and is soon enough rescued by a random stranger, having sex and being shocked at the realisation she has a vagina she is still learning more and more. The film for me is able to show two different sides to our woman character at the start and at the end. She starts off confident knowing what she has to do and becomes the predator but soon enough by the end is insecure about herself and becomes the prey.

The way in which the film is made is not only clever but it makes you feel uncomfortable and also amazed at times. The use of hidden cameras is what gives it that edge and gives her character a feel of loneliness in such a busy environment. Showing hidden camera footage of her picking up men in her transit van Scarlett is able to be confident and get the right information out of the men, using her charm and looks she portrays her perfectly. 

Another aspect that really has you on the edge and affects your viewing is the music, never has a film needed the right soundtrack and this has an incredible score. Whining and scratchy violin sounds bring the tense moments in well, if it wasn't for the music some of the scenes would be seen as throwaway but add the creepy music and it changes the mood of the scene.

Scarlett Johansson is perfect in this film, you feel it has that double alien feel to the film in which Scarlett is an alien in an unknown Glasgow and her character is also an alien in a new world. This has to be one of the strongest performances from her and will go down as one of her greatest films of her career so far. But it will obviously be overshadowed by other bigger named films which is a shame really. 

For any fans of intense, gripping, weird and at times uncomfortable films then PLEASE I urge you to go and watch this film. One thing you will do after seeing this film is you will leave the cinema and still be thinking about it hours after, an incredible, mesmerising, unsettling yet intense film.

10/10.

Starred Up!!!!

Starred Up.

Violence, corruption, drugs and survival are some aspects to prison life and you certainly do need to survive while in prison. I honesty can't remember the last time I saw a film set in a prison, Bronson I think was the last film that touched upon this subject in a gritty way.

The basic plotline is Eric Love (Jack O'Connell) is a fresh faced young man given an early transfer from the Young Offender Institution to an adult prison. Being the loud mouthed, confrontational and confident person he is he doesn't quite fit in with the inmates. 

Over the course of the film he gets into trouble, fighting prison guards, attacking other inmates and basically fighting for his own survival. One man stands out from the rest Neville (Ben Mendelsohn) who sympathises with the young man and gives him some stark firm but fair advice on surviving. As situations escalate and people end up dead or injured Eric must learn to comply with the system or he will go down fast and end up dead himself.

Going to group therapy sessions he opens up abit more and talks about his father, who turns up and walks into the room. Neville is his father and the group soon learns why Eric has stayed alive for doing so many things wrong so quickly. Finally stepping in as a father both of them need to learn, to either open up and have a father/son relationship or just learn to survive and move on.

As I say this is the first prison film I've seen in a good while and it makes a difference and certainly lets the acting come across really well in confined spaces. The storyline of son meeting father in prison is clever and shows an angle to prisons that you wouldn't ever usually think about could happen. O'Connell plays Eric with such ease and confidence but then his character could be seen as a more grown up Cook from Skins. Mendelsohn portrays the broken father with hope with ease as well, learning to adapt to his surroundings he survives knowing the inner circles of the prison and gets by by any means necessary. 

I have to mention the violence which not only is impressive but in this film is necessary and something that is a need to an end to lengthen Eric's survival. Making make shift shanks out of a melted toothbrush and a razor blade shows he can be creative and still survive. The storyline of father and son is what makes it so interesting, if it was lone man trying to survive it would be too contrived and bland. Throw in a small confined place with father and son who haven't seen each other in years and its a perfect setting. 

For a small budget film set in a prison it is seriously impressive and a film that deserves so much attention. Using actors who can show and bring out that genuine quality to prison life and still make the film exciting and engaging is impressive. For anyone who likes to watch gritty, violent films showing the realistic side to life in prison then seriously watch this film.

10/10.