皮囊之下 禁忌之美

First though, a film opening in cinemas this weekend that kicks into touch the kind of mojo cinema that makes constant reference to the past, because it puts you inside the experience of an alien. You might think that Nicolas Roeg's "The Man Who Fell to Earth", did that nearly 40 years ago, but "Under the Skin" as its title implies is something new, a more immediate, even visceral approach. Adapted from Michel Faber's 2000 novel about an extraterrestrial at loose in Scotland, it was filmed in and around Glasgow. The alien takes up residence in a recently dead body and gradually perceives as she drives around searching for prey what it means to be human. And so through her ears and eyes do we. What's even more disconcerting is that she stroke it is Scarlett Johansson. All but unrecognisable and shot on location with hidden cameras and improvised dialogue, no trace of the movie star, apparent in a Transit van or out in a shopping centre. The director Jonathan Glazer is known for his striking original films from the advert voted best of all time, Guinness's "Horses and Surf" to gangster drama "Sexy Beast" to "Birth", an unsettling study of grief in Nicole Kidman. When he came into the studio, Jonathan explained that the screenplay he wrote with Walter Campbell took the mood of Michel Faber's book rather than every twist of plot.

The earliest drafts that we wrote were much more faithful to the book and it wasn't really until we'd done a couple of those that I realised I didn't wanna do an illustrative adaptation of the book at all. And then it was really about finding out what was it I did wanna do, because I didn't wanna put it down. I was very locked into this project. I really wanted to make this film but I've no idea necessarily why.