Director: Jonathan Glazer
Director of Photography: Daniel Landin
United Kingdom. 2014.
The best way to describe this movie is ethereal. The opening scene is a captivating video art sequence, with perfectly coordinated sound, abstracted shapes, and visual cues of light and darkness. The sequence seemed to resemble the creating of a human eye (or maybe just optical references), that felt like the film was watching you back. When watching, I immediately thought of the intro to Ingmar Bergman’s 1966 film Persona, which is another experimental drama I’m fascinated by.
Persona
I found that this film is filmed in two different perspectives (or “worlds”, if you will). Some scenes are very raw and realistic (so realistic that the filmmakers actually used bystanders as movie extras), some are entirely experimental. Beautiful scenes of the landscape of Scotland; oceans, green pastures, sleepy city streets, and intimate car rides are juxtaposed with the alternate alien reality that Scarlett Johannson encompasses. Scenes where she undresses and basically inhabits the body of a dead stranger, and scenes where she sheds her human skin to reveal a very unsettling creature underneath, are filmed in such an abstracted way that made it seem metaphysical.
Every single frame is so intricately planned and shot with such artistic vision. This film is a perfect example of the balance between a narrative and an art film, which is a very hard concept to execute. It is captivating, transcendental, and haunting.
Someone told me “Jonathan Glazer = modern day Kubrick”. I agree 100%.
Image Sources: Header Image, Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4, Image 5, Image 6
Cinematography Focus 