Each week we pick a film and ask brave cinephiles to choose what they think of as its Best Shot. Next Tuesday is Ingmar Bergman's Oscar winner for Best Cinematography Cries & Whispers (1973) but before we get to that dying sister merriment, let's travel to Scotland where Scarlett Johansson is luring men to their doom. Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin is mysterious enough that it need multiple eyes to decipher it. And the film even repeatedly suggests you do the looking what with it's eyeball construction (?), predatory gaze, and actual dialogue.
Do you want to look at me?
We do, Scarlett, we do.
I normally show the choices in chronological order within the context of the film but given Under the Skin's brooding enigmatic events and telling repetitions, the articles are displayed in the order they were brought to my attention from the Best Shot club members.
BEST SHOT(s) UNDER THE SKIN
Directed by Jonathan Glazer. Cinematography by Daniel Landin.
19 shots / 23 participants. Click on the images for the corresponding article
MAJOR VISUAL SPOILERS FOLLOW - DO NOT CLICK IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE
Suddenly, the glimmer goes wide, echoing through the blank canvas...
-Zitzelfilm
A film about the weaknesses of those who are never taught to fear
-Pop Culture Crazy
Something, compassion perhaps, develops in her mind and burns in her heart...
-Lam Chop Chop
Under the Skin (2014) emerges as an odd, cold-blooded twin sister to Her (2013)...
-Manuel Betancourt
More like a painting you would see in a museum than a frame in a movie...
- Ben's Talking Pictures
Under the Skin the movie is a little bit like if you took out the whole novel and was left with merely the intriguing cover of it in your hands...
-Cinematic Corner
The most interesting thing that Glazer and Landin have accomplished visually is placing us within the headspace of the otherworldly visitor...
-The Entertainment Junkie
When everything that came before suddenly shifted into what was about to come...
-A Fistful of Films
A seductive alien wearing a Scarlett Johannson meat suit...
-Sorta That Guy
It is a nightmare, but it is also beautiful and transporting...
-Antagony & Ecstacy
A feminist movie where even a great threat to humanity becomes prey to men’s desires just because it takes the form of a woman...
- Coco Hits NY
Intriguing but utterly terrifying...
- I Am Derreck
Glazer uses her star image and her sexuality to great effect, but make no mistake; this is a great performance...
-Victim of the Time
Subtle and fun while remaining expressive...
- Drew Byrd
In any cartoon of an saucer landing on Earth, there would be a platform that comes out of the shapeship so the alien could walk out...
- Movie MoJoe
What is happening? What the fuck is happening?
-Me Says
This man isn't as easily seduced however...
-Film Actually
The film defies categorization in a way entirely unlike anything else I've seen...
-Dancin' Dan
Don't adjust your eyes
-Film Misery
The longer she stays among these people, the more she finds...
-The Film's The Thing
Victim, Predator, Innocent...
-Dino
Two similarly composed but contrasting shots...
-Best Shot in the Dark
Glazer has the power to render the familiar alien and, by film's end, the alien familiar...
- The Film Experience
NEXT WEEK: Ingmar Bergman's 5 time Oscar-nominated classic Cries and Whispers (1973) with Oscar winning cinematography by Sven Nykvist.