'Under The Skin' named best British film of 21st century

Scarlett Johansson played the role of a shape-shifting alien in 'Under the Skin'. (StudioCanal)
Scarlett Johansson played the role of a shape-shifting alien in 'Under the Skin'. (StudioCanal)

Under The Skin has been voted the best British film of the 21st century in a new poll run by MASSIVE Cinema.

The 2013 film which is directed by Jonathan Glazer, stars Black Widow and Avengers actor Scarlett Johansson as a shape-shifting alien who preys on men in Scotland.

The poll saw 60 film critics from national newspapers, leading film magazines and freelance critics select their top 100 films.

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The criteria was any British film that had been released since 1 January 2000.

Films that ranked highly on the list included movies such as Morvern Callar, Paddington 2, Fish Tank, This is England and God’s Own Country.

Both Paddington and Paddington 2 made the top 25. (Studiocanal)
Both Paddington and Paddington 2 made the top 25. (Studiocanal)

Full top 10 as follows:

  1. Under the Skin (2013) dir. Jonathan Glazer

  2. Morvern Callar (2002) dir. Lynne Ramsay

  3. Paddington 2 (2017) dir. Paul King

  4. Fish Tank (2009) dir. Andrea Arnold

  5. The Souvenir (2019) dir. Joanna Hogg

  6. This Is England (2006) dir. Shane Meadows

  7. The Favourite (2018) dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

  8. Children of Men (2006) dir. Alfonso Cuaron

  9. You Were Never Really Here (2018) dir. Lynne Ramsay

  10. God's Own Country (2017) dir. Francis Lee

Four of the top 100 films were directed by women. This includes Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar and You Were Never Really Here which ranked second and eighth respectively.

A surprise on the list was that eight-time Academy Award winner Slumdog Millionaire ranked in at a lowly 53.

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The movie tells the story of Jamal Malik, a young man from the most impoverished area in Calcutta who wins the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, and is then accused of cheating which leads him to recount his life story to the police.

Watch: A look back at Slumdog Millionaire

Other commercial successful movies such as, Interstellar (49), Skyfall (57), and The Prestige (98) were also ranked quite low on the list.

Another surprise was the lack of animated films on the list with Chicken Run (66) the only movie to make the cut.

Julia Sawalha provided the voice for lead chicken Ginger in Aardman's classic animation 'Chicken Run'. (Credit: Aardman)
Julia Sawalha provided the voice for lead chicken Ginger in Aardman's classic animation 'Chicken Run'. (Credit: Aardman)

Having launched in 2018, MASSIVE Cinema is a website which aims to bring British film to young audiences.

The MASSIVE website includes a weekly #FilmOfTheWeek selection, The Watch List - a collection of film recommendations from actors, directors and emerging filmmakers.

The full 100 film list can be found here.