It is never too early in the year to star compiling those nerdy “10 Best” lists, which are useful mostly to remind us of the fickle and feckless nature of our preferences when we revisit them a few years later, so the MacMahonian's parting shot for the 2014 (not so) shortlist starts with Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin.
Under the Skin is the 3d feature length film of Mr. Glazer who, after directing a series of video-clips for Radiohead in the late nineties, started his career in 2000 with the rather individual and effective thriller Sexy Beast, followed in 2004 by Birth, which I haven't seen.
Under the Skin is about an unspecified alien/mutant/cyber-vampire who literally gets under the skin of a young woman, kidnapped for the purpose, in order to seduce young men whom she then lures into an abandoned house where she keeps a mysterious dark amniotic den, which can be either a camouflaged spaceship, a interface to another dimension or just a metaphor for the aquatic depths of female sexuality, as you prefer. Here (half spoiler alert #1), the young men are sort of inconclusively consumed. As time passes and experience accumulates, however, our heroin bewilderedly starts to acquire prototypical human feelings and a longing for Real Love, with (half spoiler alert #2) ultimately tragic consequences.
Under the Skin unfolds with minimal dialogue (not an absolute criterion, but often a plus in The MacMahonian's book), terrific atmosphere, haughtily self-assured B-Movie ethics and aesthetics and is a different, strange and touching film. Scarlett Johansson on a black wig in the lead role achieves great effect, I suspect by basically following her director's Hitchcockian indications to not act at all, just stare blankly and let the viewers do the feeling.
On the basis of the evidence so far, Jonathan Glazer should direct more often.