Customer Reviews

Naked [Region 2]

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Mike Leigh generates the ideas for his films through intense reflections on an original idea that interests him. Through his cerebral process and in corporation with the cast, he fleshes out the characters and the story around the conceptual idea, which brings both filmmaker and cast together into an enlightening experience. Before shooting the film, both Leigh and the cast can identify themselves with the characters to the very essence of their being, which offers a deeper and more meaningful character. Thus, Leigh centers most of his film on himself, as the idea originates within him. This is also the case with Naked.

The title that Leigh applied to his 1993 cerebral mesh of cinematic cynicism does tangibly imply the notion of self-exposure. Even though it might, and does, suggest a physical display of the human anatomy, the title, more accurately, provides an allusion towards the complete revelation of the character, Johnny (David Thewlis), in the film. Naked offers an absolute exposure of Johnny's thoughts, values, and other accumulated information both assimilated and adapted throughout a lifetime. Nothing is too sacred, or secret, in Leigh's film, which viciously displays Johnny's contempt for society as a whole. The contemptuous mood of the film filters through Johnny's personal confessions with strangers and outsiders, which seemingly rests within the highly intelligent, but mutilated mind of Johnny. In a sense, this confessional approach of telling the tale of Johnny, functions almost like a personal purging of Leigh's own implacable characteristics.

A dark and secluded alley strikes the audience's retina in the initial scene. The sporadic light in the alley exposes some of the bare red brick and a little of the dirty cement underneath. The camera shakily and swiftly advances through the narrow alleyway accompanied by the intensifying sound of carnal lust. A rapid succession of frames moves the audience closer to a man and a woman that, at first, seem to express their shameless desires for one another, when suddenly the man turns violent and grabs the woman's throat and wrist. He continues his repeated hip thrusting motion while the woman begins to whimper and begs him to stop. Abruptly, the man ceases his defilement of the woman, which gives the woman an opportunity to escape. This man is Johnny.

From the brief, yet disturbing opening, the audience quickly discovers the dark side of Johnny, as he truly becomes the antihero. Most viewers will deem Johnny after his actions, as a spineless beast without moral fiber that deserves the worst possible punishment. This is a notion that Johnny seems to be highly aware of, as he consequently steals a car and escapes the possible repercussions of social shame and the possibility of severe punishment. However, what trigged Johnny to commit this vile act nourishes the curiosity, as he does have a strong sense of what is right and wrong.

The lengthy cinematic rationalization of Johnny begins when he seeks refuge in London, where an old girlfriend becomes his last opportunity for temporary sanctuary. Antagonistically, Johnny thrusts his hostile and negatively skewed perspective of life on all that enter his existence such as the ex-girlfriend, Louis (Lesley Sharp), her roommate (Katrin Cartlidge), Brian the Nightwatchman (Peter Wight), a Scot with a severe tick problem (Ewen Bremner), and the sadistically misogynic Jeremy (Greg Cruttwell). Everything from childhood trauma with his mother's sinful occupation to religious debates eventually leads into existentialism in regards to predetermined existence exposed by Nostradamus to the big bang theory. Eloquent criticism oozes out of Johnny's spiteful mouth with intentional scornfulness that forms cerebral depositions in regards to the misery humanity faces. All of these lengthy viewpoints should be revered and cherished, as Johnny emerges with a conviction similar to Achilles' faith in his own invulnerability. It gets to the point where Johnny's ridicule of the society becomes intriguingly entertaining while his supreme ego crushes all verbal opposition with articulate and depressing gibberish.

Within the strong conviction of his own intelligence an immediate weakness surfaces in Johnny, as he always sees the glass as half full. One of his strongest and self-supporting comments, "...you might already have had the happiest moment in your whole life and all you got to look forward to is sickness and purgatory." In essence, Johnny's depressing cognitive skills seem to prevent himself from climbing out of the deepest of intellectual pits, as he always pushes himself down with his own negative perspectives while always assimilating newly acquired information to his already pessimistic life philosophy. Johnny is that kind of person that brings darkness and sickness into the existence, which so many attempt to escape with self-help books and expensive shrinks. However, Leigh seems to be painfully aware of this notion, as he exuberantly dives into this project to pull out something extremely dark within himself by exorcizing his own cerebral demons by fully exposing himself.

Naked opens with a despicable scene, an event that most could never see themselves accomplishing. Through this scene, Leigh captures self-hatred through Johnny's existence in darkness, shadows, and an environment from which people strive to escape. Nonetheless, Johnny seeks out these depressive times and places both physically and cerebrally, which the script and mise-en-scene so powerfully displays. David Thewlis' performance is straight-out spectacular, as he embodies physically, intellectually, and spiritually the archetype for gloominess. It is a performance that went under the Oscars radar most likely due to its negative content, but nonetheless, Thewlis mesmerizes, antagonizes, and amuses any viewer in any continent. Lastly, Naked provides a cinematic canvas upon which Leigh freely reveals the darker parts of personal self-reflection, which offers humanity a chance through understanding and deeper contemplation beyond the mere glumness of existence.

The subject matter of this film can be harsh (2 rape scenes, several beatings and other sex scenes) but I defy you to take your eyes off it. I watched this film 3 times in one weekend and I got something different out of it every time. All the performances are magnificent but David Thewlis is incredible. Just like real life, you wonder what makes him tick but you never quite find out. Some of my favorite scenes are those with no dialogue where the camera just watches him standing outside a tube station or reading that stolen book. I loved watching his character question why we're here, asking things that aren't polite but are vital. Criterion, please, please, please release a DVD with commentary by Mike Leigh and David Thewlis!!!

hmmmmmmmm. im reading the back of the video box and it claims that 'naked' is rather like a cross between 'one flew over the cukoos nest' and kerouac's 'on the road'. well...i can see where someone may think that, but i would be more inclined to compare this with albert camus' 'the outsider' (yes, i know, it goes by another name here in america, which i cant recall as now, so why not look it up on the amazon book directory?). it is a particularly existential view upon life, or life as seen from johnny's point of view. its an extremely bleak look into london's naked underbelly, an exploration of all the people behind the scenes-the people that are never usually the subject matter in movies. we meet lonesome alcoholic middle aged women, security guards, mancunians bored with the humdrum of london life. they all seem boring at first glance, but as the film progresses we begin to feel uncontrollably involved with each character. this movie puts light on life in the real world. and it forces you to feel emotionally involved with the people. sadly, and i think this was purposeful, i feel that most people will leave this movie despising most of the characters. even the protagonist himself. i think this, negative as it sounds, merely points out how powerful the acting, quick dialogue and direction of this movie really is. if you want to be moved by a movie, watch this.

Mike Leigh, perhaps the most underrated or overlooked film director of late, creates nothing short of a masterpiece. Through Johnny, excellently portrayed by David Thewlis, we get to see the dark side of London. I should only say that Mike Leigh himself is a genius--an overly used word but in this case fitting--for having written and directed such a smart film. Equally interesting are all the other characters in the film. Pay close attention to the dialogue and you will note the genius of Leigh. Also, you'll need to pay close attention because sometimes the accents can be hard to decipher. At any rate this film is worth buying. Also worthy of buying is Secret and Lies, Life is Sweet and the recently released, Topsy-Turvy. Mike Leigh, thank you.

Without a doubt, Mike Leigh's Naked is one of the most brilliant examples of filmmaking I have ever seen.

David Thewlis is nothing short of genius as the aimless Johnny, a combustible combination of brilliance and depression, who's mere presence in anyone's purview contaminates and destroys with the effectiveness of Round-Up.

Mesmerizing and fast-paced, there is no shortage of excellence in the smaller plots and characters: Greg Cruttwell is spectacular as the pompous, nouveau-riche Jeremy, and the two female leads, Leslie Sharp and Katrin Cartlidge provide well balanced juxtaposition as two very different femmes damaged.

Not for the faint of heart, Naked will test one's own philosophy, and leave you stripped bare.

The DVD release of this film is way overdue and I concur with the other reviewers that Thewlis is outstanding in the film, and to say the least, he deserved an Oscar award for it (given what an often vicious character Thewlis' character Johnny was, it's not surprising that the Oscars ignored this performance- after all, the Academy can't allow themselves to endorse a character who isn't Safe as Milk). His co-stars Katrin Cartlidge and Lesley Sharp also contributed strong performances.

The commentary track in this set is fascinating and thoroughly enhanced my appreciation of what I already considered a masterpiece.

I can't remember if a comment I read (or maybe heard in the commentary) about Johnny was made by Thewlis or Leigh, but it was that Johnny is a character that is just a little too clever for his own good. Take the sarcastic bitter side of John Lennon without the hope and you've got a miserable man- that's Naked's Johnny all over. Although we see Johnny do some horrible things, he is also an idealist who is enraged by how far the world (and probably he himself) falls short of his expectations.

I'm glad Criterion is giving this film the presentation it deserves.

Mike Leigh's organic masterpiece, Naked, is a raw, unflinching character study of a man on the run from himself and everyone around him. The setting of his journey takes place in the midst of poverty and loss of social identity during the thick of the Thatcherism era. With Naked, he integrates the environment into his narratives much more deliberately than most others. We get a sense that Mr. Leigh has a lot to say. He delivers biting commentary on society, and how it affects the relationships of its characters. All of the characters could even be viewed as a fragmented alter ego of the director, acting as translators for all his pent up anger and honest views of society under Thatcher. In a sequence of literary symbolism, in which the main character, Johnny, wanders through the grim, decaying streets of London, happens upon Archie, "the Scotsman with a tick," who is pacing around violently, repeatedly shouting (for his girlfriend) "Maggie!" But, nobody answers. That minor narrative device, speaks volumes about how Margaret Thatcher (i.e. Maggie) did not respond to her people due to the lack of involvement on the wellbeing of the middle and lower-class society.

The environment, in which he creates, becomes a crucial factor in transcending his message, and by doing this he creates more depth and universal meaning in his stories. A process that defines this realism is his approach to creating the dramatic narrative through lengthy improvisations during the development process. He never reveals his intentions to the story until he captures it freely, and then creates the characters, molding them in an organic manner.

Although Naked is a fairly heavy movie by mainstream standards, its subject matter is highly socially relevant, emotionally moving, tragically beautiful and strongly acted by its leading and supporting characters.
David Thewlis's performance is simply brilliant. The collaboration of Leigh and Thewis during their extensive creative process and character developement conjures up a truly tragic and unforgettable character study through improvisation. Mike Leigh planted the seeds, but David Thewlis breathed life into Johnny, immortalizing him.

If you are passionate about films, this movie should not be missed. This is one of the best British films of all time, created in the midst of the underrated, yet highly prominent era of true British independent cinema of the 1980s.