Under the Skin (Lionsgate, Blu-ray, DVD, Cable VOD) isn’t a film that wants to make things easy for the viewer. The experience is not unlike that which I suppose its unnamed protagonist, an alien reborn in the body of a human host (Scarlett Johansson), goes through as it (she?) settles in to its new body and the emotions and impulses surging through it that collide with its mission. That mission has something to do with driving around Scotland and picking up men that it appears to devour in a pool of lightless liquid. That’s my best guess—there’s no exposition or explanation to clue you in to what it all means—but it’s all quite strange and beautiful and weird.
This is the first feature from Jonathan Glazer since Birth (a film that had its share of critics but has grown to almost cult stature in some circles since its 2004 release) in part because he did not want to compromise his vision. The film opens on abstracted sounds, like a human voice learning its sonic possibilities, and enigmatic imagery, and Glazer expects us to create our own meaning from the clues we take in along the odyssey. The defining color is black, the inky night of her nocturnal hunts and the deep, bottomless dark of her alien retreat. The characters seems to float untethered in these scenes, as if they’ve slipped into another reality.
Glazer is less interested in the what and the why than in the texture of the experience, the intensity of the imagery, the sense of adaptation and alienation as this alien starts to connect with her victims. Johansson delivers a performance like she’s never given, slipping between a focused, unreadable blankness and the easy charm of a young Scottish woman chatting up the men she picks up in her van, a part she keeps perfecting as she gets a feel for the culture of Glasgow at night. (Some of the scenes were shot with a hidden camera as civilians were picked up by Johansson in character, like a reality show in the Twilight Zone, and Johansson is not only game for the stunt, she’s quite adept at it.) This is a film of sensations best experienced in an immersive environment; watch this on the biggest screen you are able to, with the lights out and distractions kept to a minimum, to best fall under its spell.
On Blu-ray and DVD, with “The Making of Under the Skin,” a 42-minute collection of brief featurettes covering various aspects of production. The production is as unconventional as the film story and direction and these featurettes share some of the process. The Blu-ray also includes an UltraViolet digital copy. Also available on Cable On Demand.
See the red band trailer below.
Annette Bening struggles with The Face of Love (IFC, DVD) when, five years after the death of her husband, she meets a kind, passionate man who could be his identical double. Both men are played by Ed Harris, and Amy Brenneman and Robin Williams co-star. The disc features commentary by director Arie Posin, a cast featurette, and deleted scenes. Read the reviews here.
Also new and notable: 
Rio 2 (Fox, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD), the sequel to the colorful animated adventure of tropical birds in South America, sends the new parrot family flying back to the jungle to teach the kids about their wild origins. Jeff Michael Vice reviewed the film for Cinephiled back in April.
Wrinkles (New Video, DVD) is an animated feature from Spain about life among the residents of a retirement home. Martin Sheen, George Coe and Matthew Modine are among the voices off the English language version.
Bethlehem (Adopt Films, DVD), Israel’s official submission to the 2014 Oscars, is a drama about a young Palestinian informant to the Israeli military torn between his paternal Israeli contact and his militant older brother. In Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles.
VOD / On Demand exclusives:
The Congress (Drafthouse, Cable VOD), Ari Folman’s follow-up to Waltz with Bashir starring Robin Wright as an aging actress who sells her likeness to a studio for use in virtual films, uses a mix of animation and live action for science-fiction satire of identity, image and moviemaking in the modern era. It comes to Cable VOD on Friday, July 15, before it arrives in theaters. Also debuting on Cable VOD on Friday is the documentary Video Games: The Movie (Variance, Cable VOD) and currently available is I Am Yours (Film Movement, Cable VOD) from Norway.
If you’re part of the new paradigm of virtual movie collectors, Darren Aronofksy’s Noah (Paramount, Digital HD) is available to own two weeks before disc. Also available to own digitally before disc is the anime feature Appleseed Alpha (Sony, Digital) and a new animated Tarzan (Lionsgate, Digital HD).
New on Digital VOD are the documentaries A Brony Tale (Virgil, Digital VOD) and Cinema Komunisto (Music Box, Digital VOD).
More releases:
Clue: A Movie Mystery Adventure (Shout Factory, DVD)
Road to Paloma (Anchor Bay, Blu-ray, DVD)
A Night in Old Mexico (Phase 4, DVD)
The Last Days (IFC, DVD)
What Would You Do For Love? (eOne, DVD)
SX_Tape (Well Go, Blu-ray, DVD)
Open Grave (Cinedigm, Blu-ray, DVD)
Torment (Vertical, DVD, VOD)
Northern Light (Icarus, DVD, VOD)
The Junior Spy Agency (Inception, DVD)
TV on disc:
Black Dynamite: The Complete First Season (Warner, Blu-ray)
Orphan Black: Season Two (BBC, Blu-ray, DVD)
Hell on Wheels: Season 3 (Koch, Blu-ray, DVD)
Labyrinth (Lionsgate, DVD)
Case Histories: Set 2 (Acorn, DVD)
Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove: Season One (Lionsgate, DVD)
A Day Late and a Dollar Short (Lionsgate, DVD)
How the West Was Won: The Complete Second Season (Warner, DVD)
The Wipers Times (PBS, DVD)
David Suchet: In the Footsteps of St. Paul (Athena, DVD)
100 Years of WWI (Lionsgate, DVD)
Hercules: Hero, God, Warrior (Lionsgate, DVD)
Time Scanners: Petra (PBS, DVD)
America’s Test Kitchen: Season 14 (PBS, DVD)
Classics and Cult:
Scanners (Criterion, Blu-ray+DVD Combo, DVD)
Pickpocket (Criterion, Blu-ray+DVD Combo, DVD)
Armored Attack / The North Star (Olive, Blu-ray, DVD)
Arch of Triumph (Olive, Blu-ray, DVD)
The Little Foxes (Warner, DVD)
Ball of Fire (Warner, DVD)
Dead End (Warner, DVD)
Deadly Eyes (Scream Factory, Blu-ray+DVD Combo)
I Escaped From Devil’s Island / The Final Option Double Feature (Shout Factory, DVD)
Action Adventure Movie Marathon: Shake Hands With The Devil / The Final Option / I Escaped From Devil’s Island / Treasure of the Four Crowns (Shout Factory, DVD)
Calendar of upcoming releases on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital, and VOD