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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brutality And Brilliance--A Nasty "Naked" Treat, October 7, 2006
Having seen this movie upon its release in 1993, I remember seeing a tough, brutal little picture with a great leading performance by David Thewlis. I didn't actually remember liking it, however. Thirteen years later, I've had the pleasure of revisiting Mike Leigh's "Naked" in its Criterion issue. And being older and more savvy, I've discovered the film as if it were my first time viewing it. And what a lot of pleasures there are to be had in "Naked."
First, David Thewlis is brilliant! The ferocity of his performance captivated audiences around the world and won him Cannes and other acting honors, but no Oscar nomination. I would contend that if this movie were released now, with Mike Leigh and David Thewlis better known and respected, the outcome would have been much different. All the performers bring a realness to the film that make it so effective, but it is Thewlis's show.
Thewlis's Johnny is a despicable human being. He is rude, violent, petulant, unwashed, selfish, and totally at odds with anything even resembling humanity. He proceeds to make his way through London meeting up with various characters each more loathsome or desperate then the last. It is a bleak portrait, at best. Every woman, inexplicably, is drawn to Johnny. I mean--what a catch, huh? Some might label the film misogynistic, and it's treatment of women isn't glamorous--but I'd contend that the men are all ogres as well which helps balance things out.
So why is this movie great? Sounds like a nasty piece of work (and it is). But aside from the blistering performances, the film is scathingly and brutally funny. The impeccably literate script actually has something to say about the modern world, about philosophy, about the human condition. It's a tremendously smart black comedy. And Johnny becomes one of the most well-spoken and funny antiheroes in modern movie history. It's refreshing for a movie that is so brutal and tough to be so intelligent as well. And for all you despise about Johnny, there will be a grudging respect too. You understand why people are drawn to him.
I've thought about this film many times since I rewatched it last week, and now I've felt compelled to add my two cents here. Check it out. A nasty masterpiece. KGHarris, 10/06.
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33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE BEST AND MOST POWERFUL FILM OF THE 90s, September 5, 2005
Johnny is a homeless, angry young man who can speak at great length and with GREAT eloquence on an incredibly wide variety of topics. He is smarter than basically anyone he meets or ever will meet but he has no job, no place to live and has no interest in having either. He arrives in London and sets out on an odyssey through the night to spread his philosophy on life to anyone who will listen. Doesn't sound like much of a film huh? Make no mistake this is one of the best films EVER made and contains a performance that can match De Niro, Hoffman or Brando any day. David Thewlis won best actor at cannes for his genuinely incredible performance in this masterpiece, and it's easy to see why. The raw power that he brings to this role has to be seen to be believed. Some people expressed surprise at his lack of an academy award nomination. Let's be honest about it. The performances that stay with you after the credits roll are too good for oscars. Day-Lewis in Gangs Of New York,Samuel L. Jackson in Jungle Fever, Campbell Scott in Roger Dodger, Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, Newman in Hud and most of all David Thewlis for this film. Ignore the hype about the violence in this film. Robert De Niro played a violent person in Raging Bull and what did he get? A golden globe AND the oscar. David Thewlis lost because he played this role with unblinking conviction. De Niro was sexually violent in CAPE FEAR and he was nominated at the academy awards. Thewlis and De Niro both took the method approach to these roles, so why did the academy overlook Thewlis? If this film didn't win the best actor and best director awards at Cannes I seriously think that it would be virtually unknown. Now that Thewlis and director Mike Leigh are back in the public eye. Thewlis in KINGDOM OF HEAVEN and Leigh with his harrowing VERA DRAKE, it is a perfect time for a new audience to discover NAKED and see it for what it is a masterpiece. Like always the best films are sadly unavailable on dvd. This film is one of those rare times when I'd even settle for an extras free disc. If it wasn't for criterion, modern masterpieces like Glengarry Glen Ross and NAKED would come out on dvd with nothing but a trailer. There are two reasons why NAKED didn't win the oscars for best actor,film or screenplay: money and politics. This film wasn't marketable or politically correct. To see an actor like Thewlis wasted in rubbish films like Dragonheart is ridiculous. You would think that an awards academy who gave Sean Penn an oscar for his performance in Mystic River where he played an ultimately vicious and violent character and Anthony Hopkins who played one of the most evil characters of recent memory in The Silence Of The Lambs would at least give THewlis a nomination. Thewlis gives one of the best performances in the history of cinema and regardless of what the academy thought of the film Thewlis has created a character that will never be forgotten. At the end of the day a film like NAKED can't be measured by the box office or the amount of awards that it wins but by it's impact on a visceral level.
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48 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Are you with me?", September 23, 2005
I first saw this in a little run-down art house theater. The auditorium was empty except for an old woman and two strange men who, lured by the title and the fishnet stockings on the original poster, had obviously come expecting a different kind of movie than the one they got. There were times during the screening when I almost felt as if the theater had become part of the movie.
This is a film that's fascinating, but, damn, it's a bit of a ride. I'm frequently catching it late at night, on IFC, and even just a few moments almost always wear me out -- definitely a movie that brings to your attention when you need to go to bed. I appreciate "Naked," as a filmic experience, and it is indeed an incredible one, but I have to wonder if this is what movies are supposed to do.
Still, it does what it does and what it does is unlike anything else you could want to find.
David Thewlis may have made a mistake starring in this because he is so brilliant, so engaging, so horrifying, so smart, so black that to this day, I still have a hard time seeing him as any other character -- whether he's in "Gangster #1" or "The Prisoner of Azkaban." It's great work. He'll make you laugh, he'll make you cry, he'll make you carsick.
I'd also like to nominate the scene between Johnny and the security guard -- their discussion of time, and space, and barcodes and apocalypse and Dadaist nuns -- to be elected to the office of the great scenes of the 90s, and to take a place on the larger list of the great cinematic moments altogether.
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