Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin features a sexy alien serial killer. Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive features hipster vampires, presumably having died from overdoses of hipness. When Tom Hiddleston’s character from Lovers is told that a certain talented singer would become famous one day he responded “God I hope not. She’s way too good for that.” Which sums up the possessive adoration many of Jarmusch’s and Glazer’s fans feel about their work.
Glazer’s film stars Scarlett Johansson, who proves she can go well outside her normal range of pretty indie chicks. Her inhuman mimicry of sexual predatory behavior stands as a pretty good symbol of the age for anyone who has tried online dating, with its faux intimacy and exploitations. The images are nightmarish and haunting, like something Kubrick would have given us. Although there is not much in the way of dialogue, the dissonant score and bleak Scottish setting convey more than entire scripts. It brings to mind the work of Shane Carruth, especially his recent Upstream Color. Though Skin is not as difficult as that film, it has the same ability to give us characters which seem right out of a bizarro new folklore for the post-9/11 post-financial crisis neo-malaise period even as they’re entirely original.
Jarmusch’s contemporary undead Hamlets convey the same ultimate sense of sadness even while embodying a sulky sexualilty. Sunglasses, gloves, obsessions with old guitars, frequent references to Byron and Shelley put a welcome new mythology of vampires into play. There is no discernible plot, nor is one needed. It’s all about atmosphere, brooding intellectuals and stunning visuals. It’s hard to imagine someone watching this and not wanting to hop on a nighttime flight to Detroit or Tangiers. It’s also the best romance since last year’s Before Midnight. And underneath it all is the occasional self-mockery. “This is so 14th century,” Tilda Swinton’s character complains at one point.
Each of these directors takes a minimum of four years per movie, so getting both these gems in the space of a month is just south of a miracle.
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