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Movie Review - Under The Skin

'Come To Me' Scarlett Johansson Goes On The Prowl In Full UK Trailer For Under The Skin

Cinema Review - Sunshine On Leith

Release:
04th October 2013
Cert:
PG
Director:
Dexter Fletcher
Stars:
Jane Horrocks, Peter Mullan , George McKay, Kevin Guthrie, Antonia Thomas, Freya Mavor,Paul Brannigan
Following the well-received Wild Bill, Dexter Fletcher is back behind the camera for Sunshine On Leith - a Scottish musical adaptation of Stephen Greenhorn's stage musical featuring the hits of The Proclaimers. Whilst there is some fun to be had the film's gooey sentimentality and Scottish soap-opera style narrative can be somewhat off-putting.

Sunshine On Leith centres around Davy (George McKay) and Ally (Kevin Guthrie), two soldiers returning from Afghanistan who are forced to readapt to civilian life. Here they discover new romances and old friends - Davy in particular learns of some new family secrets concerning his dad, Rab (Peter Mullan).

Fletcher directs this tale with bucket loads of energy and vibrancy, truly showcasing the beauty of Scotland's capital city, which doesn't get the big screen treatment nearly often enough. The majority of the musical sequences are brimming with fun - with standouts including Jason Fleyming's chirpy rendition of Should Have Been Loved and the riotously fun Over and Done With. However, the lack of this reviewer's personal favourite Proclaimer's hit, Lady Luck, is upsetting.

However, when we take a step back from the musical sequences Sunshine On Leith can feel a bit like a below-par soap opera - a big screen River City perhaps? Plot developments feel shoehorned in so as songs fit with slightly more ease with a narrative containing a variety of uninspired emotional subplots - most of which feel superficial and over-bearing. Every single character has some form of relationship problem, not to mention that there are heart-attacks, a multitude of break-ups, and amputee soldiers - most of which feel like an easy method of tugging at the old heartstrings.

However, these subplots, in particular Rab and wife Jean's (Jane Horrocks) marriage problems do result in some stand-out performances. Horrocks is downright loveable - showcasing a natural warmth and charisma - as well as a standout acting talent. Peter Mullan also delivers what feels like a raw and stripped back performance as Rab - a man whose current happiness is challenged by a past decision.

Sunshine On Leith delivers a lot of light-hearted fun in its chirpy musical moments. Fletcher directs this tale with a playful energy and showcases a real beauty in Edinburgh. However, the film's tendency to focus on cheap-melodrama results in a watch that feels like the unwanted lovechild of River City and Glee.

★★★☆☆

Andrew McArthur

TIFF 2013 Review - Under the Skin

Rating:
15
Release Date:
9,10&15th September 2013 (TIFF) 13, 14th October (LIFF)
Director:
Jonathan Grazer
Cast:
Scarlett Johansson, Paul Brannigan, Jessica Mance
Directed by Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast) and filmed entirely on location across Scotland Under the Skin is a film flaunting incredible cinematography strung together by a predominantly performance-orientated narrative. Based on the Novel by Michael Faber, Under the Skin follows Laura (Scarlett Johansson), an alien from another world, as she travels across Scotland kidnapping young men.

Glazer’s latest is a sci-fi film akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey in that one of the film’s main components is its striking tone and total control over the presented image. Daniel Landin’s exquisite palette of subdued tones creates a grim atmospheric back-drop for the film’s often macabre visual style. The same gorgeous control over image translates the Scottish landscape into a strange muggy alien territory, foreboding and stirring in equal measure. Hundreds of directors have only seen fit to make such land a charming tourist spot, whilst Glazer has here crafted an environment that is as much a character as Laura herself.

  Under the Skin is a road movie of sorts, shot in a near-documentary style of lingering shots and snappy disjointed editing, which again expand on the notions of “alien” culture. We are presented time and time again with bizarre social situations; the crowds of Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street, Neds rampant in the night, masses of colour-coordinated football fans, all of them overpowering and vast, a sensory overload. But even these shots can tire on the viewer in a film with little dialogue and even less narrative explanation. As a companion to the novel, the film is possibly at its best, but still entirely able as a stand-alone project. For true intrigue: Glazer executes some of the most haunting, striking, and unsettling images of extra-terrestrial life ever put to film.

Glazer keeps the mystery of his alien culture tightly wrapped and that pays off big time, rewarding the audience with a kind of abstract macabre that strays into the realm of the horrific. The aesthetic of this alien technology is the definition of minimalism ensuring nothing can be deduced until the last moment, and though the use of contrast lighting is indeed perfect thinking , it at times crowds scenes with far too much shadow, erasing any finer details. In the same setting Mica Levi’s jarring and genius screech-synth scoring is at its best in Laura’s black widow sequences where it plays out like some bizarre striptease music done in pulse-like percussion. The young Londoner is proving a major talent in sound engineering and someone to keep your eye on.

Apart from the stunning cinematography, the most enrapturing thing about this film is Johansson’s turn as alien provocateur-cum-abductor. Relying less on her lines - which she drones in an awful regional accent - the starlet exhibits an accomplished and often intimidating portrayal of the alien amongst us. This is Johansson’s best performance to date. Johansson, as per, is stunning, and her beauty plays an important part in the alien’s role both during the alien’s predatory ventures, and in the film’s powerful lingering and poignant climax.

Incredibly beautiful piece of sci-fi horror with a stellar performance from Johansson and a soundtrack to compliment, Under the Skin is not the gripping sort of hunter/hunted thriller some may expect. If you can look past its relatively reserved lack of narrative you’ll find a powerful and considerate meander through the life of an alien in an alien land.

★★★★☆

Scott Clark

The Angel's Share DVD Review

★★★★☆

Ken Loach’s affable crime movie brings together a group of low-rent, ex-offenders through a community service course in Glasgow. Chief among them is Robbie (Paul Brannigan), a young father who, after barely avoiding a long custodial sentence, finds himself presented with a final chance to turn his faltering life around. Under the guidance of supervisor, Harry (John Henshaw), and with the help of new friends Mo (Jasmin Riggins), Albert (Gary Maitland) and Rhino (William Ruane), Robbie develops a passion for whisky, and with it a chance to escape his troubled past.

Loach has, for the most part, done a decent job of melding the contrasting elements of the down-at-heel kitchen sink drama, with the daft whimsy of a Highlands whisky heist. Brannigan, in particular, is successful in his ability to instil genuine empathy for a character who’s no angel himself. He’s also more than adequately aided by an amusing and largely comprehensible supporting cast, with Maitland standing out as the profoundly dim-witted Albert.

Loach’s ability to temper the comedy with the uglier elements of Robbie’s life, or vice versa, is evident for only two thirds of the story though. As the drink begins settle in the hearts and minds of the audience, Robbie’s past misconducts are conveniently washed-away in a tide of priceless Scotch. It reflects well on Loach and his cast then, that this shift from reality to fancy doesn’t entirely ruin the experience.

There’s more than enough spirit to be found at the bottom of the bottle, to redress the balance of a slightly lopsided story.

Extras on the DVD include a short making-of documentary, featuring interviews with Loach and the cast, who remark on his collaborative approach to filmmaking, as well as Brannigan’s real-life troubles, and his connection to his character.

Chris Banks (@Chris_in_2D)

Rating:15
UKDVD/BD Release Date:24th September 2012
Directed By:Ken Loach
Cast:Paul Brannigan, William Ruane, Gary Maitland, Jasmin Riggins, Gary Maitland, John Henshaw

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