If you haven’t seen this film, I highly recommend it–in fact, I would go so far as to say that it is a must see.
Basically, the movie is about an alien (played fantastically by Scarlett Johansson) who picks up men in Scotland and harvests their flesh for some unknown purpose (food? for fun?) The why isn’t really that important.
I didn’t watch a trailer for it, I just went with some friends who were like “let’s go see this movie, it’s supposed to be scary,” and I’ve recently starting enjoying scary movies.
From a technical standpoint, the movie is impeccably shot, with these perfectly composed backgrounds coupled with interior scenes that are really unsettling. The alien’s ship is a entirely black space that sucks unsuspecting men into the floor with not much in the way of fanfare, complete with a totally eerie soundtrack and minimalist sound design.
I could talk more about the aesthetics of the film, but where I really want to key in is on a very specific thing it represents–men. The movie is an eviscerating critique of masculinity. Many of the scenes in the movie are unscripted; the alien goes around and picks up real men in several instances (who are later informed for additional scenes that they are participating in a film). Several of the characters in the film perform what we would expect of the stereotypical brainless male, guided by his penis–an attractive woman drives up in a windowless white van, sure, hope right in and go wherever. For me, there was an odd sort of satisfaction watching these men and their bodies be consumed by the black pool in the alien’s ship. The metaphor of flesh harvesting seems appropriate considering our culture’s particular emphasis on the consumption of female bodies for pleasure, something that the alien becomes familiar with in her interactions with humans.
I think the movie could have stayed here, which would have been a mistake, because while it is not a critique that is done very often, the film pushes through into a different notion and question about what exactly it is that is distinctly human about human experience.
SPOILERS AHEAD
There is a line sharply drawn between the alien mimicking human behavior and a moment of recognition where she becomes confused about whether or not she is human. The alien sees itself in a mirror and from that point forward, she is no longer sure about which she is–human or alien.
This leads the audience through a quiet sequence of events, where the alien is wandering around trying to figure out what exactly it is that humans are supposed to be doing. She’s helped by a lonely man (which culminates in a very unusual, tender and humorous sex scene), wanders through a forest, and is raped by a logger, who tears through her skin, revealing the alien underneath. The alien pulls away her skin, and looks at her human face, which looks back, blinking. Then, the logger returns and sets her on fire.
There is much more to the film than the precursory description I’ve given here, but the conclusion that the film led me to was deeply unsentimental and deeply disturbing. As I sat and watched, the film turned and looked at me, turned me into the alien, suffusing everything in the filmic world with a strange, confused quality that I’m still trying to figure out. The pain and tragedy that’s inherent in human life and very familiar to me became alien and stopped making sense. It was tough to re-calibrate after watching it.
Human behavior seems very strange when viewed in this context. Very strange, confused, and very sad. An absolutely powerful film and a must-watch!
twells 