I have so much I really want to say about this film but I'm also concious that I really don't want to spoil the impact of watching it would have on someone. I doubt a title has ever been so apt for a film as I genuinely can't get it out my head, it's literally one of the most mind-bogglingly amazing films I've ever seen. I highly doubted cinema could shock me any more but I stand firmly corrected.
What makes this film so beyond any expectation is just how confident and aloof it presents itself, much like it's protagonist. It's has elements of serious sci-fi to it but then a lot of it is shot in real life Glasgow almost candidly with real life members of the public making up the majority of the faces in the film. It has reality to it which is so familiar but then it plunges us into horrifying yet visually mesmerising unknown. I am genuinely beyond impressed by the presentation of the film. Even the candid scenes with members of the public have a filmic quality to them, it seems like a cheap film to have made but everything feels and looks much more, the music and sound effects enhance it all, sure the soundtrack may come off a bit heavy on the retro sci-fi sounds but it all works so well.
I am anxious to go into detail about this but I'll start with the most magnetic element. Scarlett Johansson, her performance has been cited as iconic, I think that pretty much sums it up. If you go in knowing the basic premise of the film like I did, I think it might have lost some of it's sheen but knowing and understanding where this character is coming from feels important. Scarlett is trussed up in a black wig, cheap fur and red lipstick, she still manages to look otherworldly attractive with a core aspect of this film, she is meant to appear this way even in her tacky ensemble, she still looks devastatingly attractive. This beauty combined with the candid shots of her driving around Glasgow in a white van asking men for directions gives the film a strange anchor in reality.
I really feel somewhat protective of this film, like I don't want to ruin it's alluring mystique... An aspect I adored, was the fact the film has zero exposition, it never stops to explain why and yet it covers all the burning questions I have in my mind. This is all hinged upon Scarlett's performance which is, as I've mentioned greatly helped by her alien-like beauty, but also her ability to convey emotions without even the capability of expressing herself, learning as she goes. She is simply magnetic.
It's probably worth saying now, the core plot of the film, obviously look away if you want to enter the film with zero knowledge of the plot.
The plot of the film is that Scarlett is an alien, as far as I can tell, she seduces men, whilst driving around Glasgow in her white van, and takes them to be essentially farmed for their meat. At a certain point in the film (a heartbreaking part among several...) she breaks away from her role and tries to discover her humanity, if she has any. This is all set in Scotland, which is experiencing it's own identity crisis at the minute which the film light touches on by having a brief radio report mention the referendum taking place this year, I thought it was a nice touch. The film shows us the realities and beauty of modern Scotland, it feels so much like my back-yard it's unnerving... Then Scarlett has a guy on a motorcycle who I'm assuming is her guard/watcher who's purpose is to bring her to being and make sure her job is done properly and unimpeded. There's so much that is left unsaid but it feels like a completely coherent and chilling. There were points in the film where I genuinely was scared, I don't get that nowadays. Funnily enough the film was based on a book written by a 14 year old boy, when it's based it seems so loose because from what I heard of the book I doubt it could ever match the visceral intensity of this film.
This film is simply amazing, iconic, unforgettable.
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