Very few times does a book-to-film adaptation improve upon the original source and transcend it in its quality. Under the Skin, based on the novel of the same name from Welsh author Michel Faber, can rightfully make such a claim.

Director Jonathan Glazer is best known for his work in music videos, two of his most well known works being Jamiroquai's Virtual Insanity and Radiohead's Karma Police, both of which won MTV Music Video Awards back in 1997 when they used to actually matter (the former winning Best Video of the Year, the latter winning Best Direction). If either video was any indicator, Jonathan Glazer knows how to tell a story with a camera, and this could not be more true in Under the Skin.

Words are hardly spoken throughout the film, many of them are reduced to incoherent warbling, signifying the disconnect Scarlett Johnansson's alien race has with their human prey. The film carries over 90% of its narrative on its lucid and crisp visuals, none of which fail to impress. Nothing about Johansson's methods or motivations for kidnapping and killing her victims is clearly explained, but enough is shown to truly terrify the viewer when their fate is revealed.

For the latter half of the film, Johansson's humanity begins to bloom when she meets a deformed man (which required no make-up; the actor was truly deformed). From this point on, the themes of mercy, kindness, and empathy, all things encompassing what it means to be human are brought forth, as well as reflected from the cold, apathetic nature in which Johansson's character acted towards the human race in the film's first half.

The film is told almost entirely from Johansson's perspective, and Johansson herself leaves no room for reprieve against the sheer subtlety and mystery surrounding her alien character. Watching Johansson fail to connect herself emotionally (and even ethically) to the human race, only to discover herself in her human form as an alien species would only adds to the prestige of her performance, and she sells every penny of it.

Assisting the acting and visuals is its contemporary, but unarguably alien score, which only adds to the dread and unease that accompanies Johansson's explicit and unusual method for entrapping and killing her victims as well as the foreign feelings of love that she gains near film's end. In many ways, the score (especially during its opening sequence and the "transport" of Johansson's victims) closely resembles the Reqiuem from Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, a claim that wouldn't be unfounded considering the visuals during these scenes practically mirror 2001's legendary slit-scan scenes.

While this film is certainly an improvement over its literary origins, mainly due to the fact that the film focuses on perfectly executing a few themes as opposed to executing many themes only to certain extents, the only problem I can honestly name about this film are the certain mysteries left open that might throw general audiences off. As mentioned before, the motivations for Johansson's killings are never explained, which I could easily see others getting peeved at, as well as the closing shot, which I felt would be better understood if one had read the book. Even then, I felt as if the shot had no real context with the rest of the film, even with the countless subtexts within.

Regardless, Under the Skin is an extremely intelligent, extremely well-crafted science fiction film bolstered by an unnervingly fitting score, beautiful direction by Jonathan Glazer, and an equally beautiful and subtle performance from Scarlett Johansson, the shoulders of whom this film firmly rests upon.

A24 Films is the newly-founded production company and studio behind the making of this film. If this film is any indicator for the quality of films that will be released under its name, I shall eagerly look forward to its, as well as Jonathan Glazer's, next release.

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