If there’s one thing I have learnt from this weeks Robert
Burns Centre Film Theatre’s Film Club screening is to never to except a lift
from a beautiful women even if she looks a dead ringer for Scarlett Johansson!
As you may have guessed the film I refer to is the latest outing from London
film director Jonathan Glazer Under the Skin (2013).
Our master of ceremonies was Alec Barclay who had also
agreed to take a Q&A. Alec enlightened us that he had first became aware of
Under the Skin when he was told that
an alien in the form of an A listed actress who closely resembled the afore
mentioned Ms Johansson was filming in Wanlockhead, a place in South West
Scotland were you normally only find tumble weed and sheep, so needless to say
our host did not believe that an actress that had starred in two of his
favourite films,
Ghost
World (2001) and the middle aged mans fantasy film
Lost in Translation (2003), was wondering around the Lowther Hills!
He went on to tell us that another local Dumfries and Galloway connection was
that our RBC Film Officer Alice Stilgoe had rented a property that was
adjoining a farmhouse that was used as the location where Johansson’s character
took her victims. Her interest aroused she read the book and immediately wanted
to leave the district!
 |
| Filming in the wilds of South West Scotland. |
As part of the introduction we learnt that this was Jonathan
Glazer third feature film following his debut
Sexy Beast (2000) a British crime drama that starred Ray Winston
and Oscar nominated Ben Kingsley as Don Logan who was possibly the most
psychopathic villain to appear on screen. His second film was
Birth (2004) an American drama that
starred
Nicole
Kidman and Lauren Bacall. But in some ways Glazer is better known for music
video’s from the likes of Radiohead (
Karma
Police) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (
Into
My Arms) and Massive Attack (Karmacoma) and commercials for companies like
Guinness,
Stella
Artois,
Levis
and the stunning Sony Bravia
Paint
(2006) which was filmed in Glasgow in and around a tower block that was due for
demolition. One of Glazer’s skills is the ability of carefully adding pictures
to music, which is why he is so successful in advertising.
It took Glazer about ten years to bring his and Walter
Campbell’s adaptation of Michel Faber’s Scottish set novel Under the Skin to the screen. During that time it went through many
drafts, several writers and was temporarily shelved. Alec concluded that in the
end what we have is a very stripped down story about an alien being in a
beautiful body preying on unsuspecting men who think they have got lucky.
 |
| An unsettling scene with Adam Pearson. |
A film is always appreciated by Film Club members and the
RBC audience far more if it is accompanied by a question and answer session
following the screening and as I have said before they are always the best
nights and this one was no exception when we were fortunate to have David
Taylor the Assistant Location Manager for the film whose company is based in
Glasgow, Scotland.
David explained that the film took nearly a year to shoot
and that other than the ‘black goo’ scenes the director wanted the film shoot entirely
on location. As well as Dumfries and Galloway, various other Scottish locations
were used including various places in and around Glasgow like Buchanan
Galleries, the busy shopping centre where no one recognised Johansson, and
outside Park Head the home of Celtic Football Club. But he did point out that
sometimes it would be a lot cheaper to build a set rather than adapt an existing
location. For this movie a lot of covert shooting took place using hidden
cameras, non-actors and unscripted
conversations seen
when Johansson's character picks up men. A lot of the undercover
shooting was done from the white van that she drives around the streets of
Glasgow, in fact it was like a small studio packed with cameras and equipment. Although
obviously permission from the people ‘featured’ had to be obtained, blanket
releases were used for ‘non-featured’ scenes like the Shed Disco and the
football crowd.
 |
| What is she saving this man for? |
Alec took questions from the audience from which David gave
us a further insight into what his job involved. Local knowledge was required
in the first instance and then once the locations were agreed upon a lot of
organising was to be done to allow the shoot to take place. Permission to film
had to be obtained especially on private land and public parks, road closures
arranged where required, public likely to be effected by the film and its equipment
have to be informed. For this moderately budgeted movie there was a total crew
of around 100, fifty of which would be on set at any one time. 18 out of the 32
Scottish local authorities were involved in some way. Generally, he told us, it
was a purple patch for TV and films at present but the cash cow for filmmakers,
which includes location work carried out by companies like his own, was in
advertising. Most of his work is internal and can be anywhere from a council
house up to a grand manor house but most importantly it’s the film crew base
that dictates the radius of where you can film and this in turn is down to the
films budget. He ended the discussion by saying that it was imperative that
Scotland should have its own permanent film studios.
I do agree with what Alec said in his introduction that Under the Skin was no ordinary film and
would not be to everyone’s taste, this included mine. Cards on the table - I am
not a great science fiction fan, more into reality than fantasy but at least
Glazer’s film was ‘grounded’ most of the time. By this I mean that it was set
amongst modern day realism and highlighted the weakness of men who think with
their penis and not with there brain and also it tried to make us believe that
a visitor to our world would attempt to turn native for some reason. Although the
alien had no feelings, leaving a baby to die in the most horrendous
circumstances, she is happy to try a slice of chocolate cake! And on attempting sexual intercourse realises
that the female species needs a vagina to successfully complete this operation,
but that’s an alien for you - at least the ones that are sent to earth to prey
on unsuspecting members of the male species!
 |
| David Taylor (centre) with host Alec Barclay and Movie Ramble. |
Seriously, this is a very unsettling film that completely
lacked humour (other than Tommy Cooper – your need to see the film!) and
emotion. There were a couple of really disturbing scene’s, the one I have
already mentioned with the baby on the beech and another which involved a
facially disfigured man, Adam Pearson who suffers from the skin condition
Neurofromatosis, which really left a bad taste. But it is an intelligent film
with some rather distinctive cinematography and a very good performance from
our female lead. The narrative raises two main questions which we the audience
have to grapple with. The first is the obvious one: for what purpose did this person
come to earth and why is it killing men, and the second is what’s the tie-up
between the motorcyclist and the alien, questions that are never really
answered. David Taylor described it as a ‘marmite film’ one that you will
either like of hate! I must say that it’s never a good sign if I’m pleased that
a movie has finished, but I would not go as far as saying I hated it, I just
could not appreciate its entertainment value. Although since I have seen it I can’t
get it out of my head!
