Under The Skin (2014), R, 3.5 stars

Scarlett Johansson as a seductive woman or...is she a woman in this movie?

Looks can be deceiving, right? Have you had a moment when a beautiful stranger seduces you with just a glance and/or a gesture? How do you know if it could be a trap? What will this seduction lead to? There's many conclusions to these questions, but only oneself can reveal your fate. Science fiction is a particularly interesting genre to pick regarding a woman luring men to have sex with her. What was so interesting about this picture is that Scarlett Johannson is the only recognizable actress in the movie and the men are just innocent bystanders. It is one hell of a scary sci-fi flick.

The movie begins with a man riding a motorcycle through a tunnel and comes up to a lake and walks inside the lake. When he comes out, he is holding a young woman's body and is brought to a nude female alien (Scarlett Johannson). She observes the deceased woman's form and retrieves her clothing and goes into a Macy's store to give herself a distinguished appearance.

She drives through Scotland asking various men for directions. She converses with them and offers them a lift on her van. She simply asks them concise questions including if she is pretty. Men walk into questionable liquid onto the floor which turns them into just basic deformed flesh with their organs removed from their system. What a first date! The movie turns into an eerie state of encounters that men everywhere will question themselves whether the woman they choose to go out with is worth to mingle with.

A man passing by glancing at the beautiful alien.

This is a polarizing and oblique piece of filmmaking that takes a tragic character on an odyssey of simply being recognized in society. Even though I repeatedly complain about a movie being slow, I appreciate the lethargic pacing as the tone is hypnotic and ambiguous. We mostly see the alien's point of view of seduction, but we also see the victim's side, who is a man's point of view being lured, what is he thinking while being in the van? It's chilling.

I want to devote most of my praise to Scarlett Johannson's performance. This is the fourth strong performance in a row and she is on a roll: from Don Jon to Her to Captain America: The Winter Soldier to this one. She is quite tranquil and quietly creepy that is surrounded by enigmatic looks. From her vision and her hearing, the audience is identifying society as no other alien can identify. It is, again, refreshing.

This is a visually arresting film surrounded by a hypnotic soundtrack that foments us into examining the "character study" of a person from the outside world observing a man's foray of falling into the "woman's trap". This is the strangest and most ambiguous sci-fi film I have seen in quite a while and I was conclusively intrigued by the visuals and terror simultaneously. The movie started a tad weird and conventional for me, but it got better. It is an interesting art film to discuss with over a cup of coffee or in a routine conversation. I did not care if the film was ambiguous, I was able to figure out the film, but it is a near-phenomenal experience to witness on-screen. Director Jonathan Glazer crafted an absorbing movie. A very good, haunting sci-fi flick.

***1/2