Scarlett double feature: Captain American and Under The Skin

Under the Skn was probably my favorite screening I had the pleasure of going to at TIFF but my row cleared out at certain spots. I heard about walk-outs in other festivals but to me it was beautiful and despite being strange and miminalist in dialogue it was a pretty straight forward, structure based story. I am going to pay top dollar to listen to that Mica Levi score whenever I can. I dig Glazer's Roeg/Tarkovsky/Kubrick/Ramsay vibes but it is definitely not for everyone, but kudos for ScarJo for helping this film happen due to her star power. It ain't Kidman in Birth but ScarJo sells being on the outsider prism to wanting to be of this world. There were times I came close to tears in certain spots and also incredibly uncomfortable. It is the type of sci-fi I can get behind because it seems possible and grounded.

Never read the novel.

Birth is definitely worth seeing. Harris Savides has sublime, disciplined cinematography (the opening scene is one sustained shot), Desplat's score is one of his best, and it has Kidman's best performance, in my opinion. It's also something of a sci-fi film, but much more film classicism going on than in Under the Skin.

I loved the scene with the deformed man (that was a real man, no makeup btw). That was when I was nearly in tears. It is also when the movie becomes another thing. I know some people wiished it just remained what it was in the first half but it for me, I really liked the switch in direction it went on.

I like Glazer a lot and my respect for him shot up when dealing with the post-credits Q&A. There were a lot of leading questions, a lot of assholes who just wanted to make it known they thought he is a weirdo for making this film, and people not even asking questions but wanted to hear their own voice. Glazer seemed set on noting what the ScarJo character represented and that this was not some impenetrable piece of work at all.

Updated On: 4/6/14 at 05:38 PM

Love to know your favorite Kidman performance, ray.

Top 5
Birth
Flirting
To Die For
Eyes Wide Shut
Dogville

Kidman was originally in the Uma Thurman role for Nymphomaniac. They either made up or Kidman just prefers to do Lars roles in small doses. I think working with Lars just requires a lot of stamina and I can understand if actresses can get too exhausted by him.

As for the man, yeah I believe Glazer said he is not a professional actor and the scenes of the pick-ups were mostly by non-professionals with a lot of them having no idea they were a part of the film. ScarJo was picking up hitchhikers who did not recognize her. But here is the man in the film, who has had an internet presence prior to the film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN2AML8t5M4

Anyway, Under the Skin is being handled by A24 Films. In terms of awards stamina, hopefully this goes the way of Spring Breakers than say The Spectacular Now (it deserved nothing, in my opinion, but it was a critical darling) and The Bling Ring (it deserved little of the critical flailing it got, #TeamSofia) as far as A24 films go.

Whizzer, please report back soon as you watch BIRTH. Like I said, I don't think the film works as a whole, I find the last half hour or so particularly uninteresting and disappointing, but overall, it's the kind of movie you can't stop thinking about after watching it, much like you've described UNDER THE SKIN.
Strummergirl, that's a great top 5! I have yet to see DOGVILLE, so not sure if I can call myself a true Kidman fan (I know, I know, I'll watch it within the next year), but here's my list:

1) MOULIN ROUGE (this is a performance unlike anything Kidman has done before/after IMO, I can't get enough of it)
2) BIRTH (that shot. The end)
3) EYES WIDE SHUT (the monologue at the top of the film kills me every time)
4) RABBIT HOLE
5) THE HOURS or THE OTHERS or TO DIE FOR (so hard to pick one, but today I'm feeling THE HOURS, tomorrow I might feel like the other two)

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