Naked (1993) Reviews

• One of the best films of the Nineties

  Dodger-91999-10-18

  Having a bad day? Then check out Mike Leigh's masterpiece; the tale of Johnny, a mid twenties Mancunian drifter who heads down to London (having nicked a car) and tracks down an old girlfriend. He seduces Sophie (the excellent Katrin Cartlidge), unleashes a display of venom on his old lover, Louise (Lesley Sharp) and staggers off into the night when both women become too much for him to bear. His odyssey takes him to a world of the homeless, including an illiterate Scot (Trainspotting's Ewen Bremner) and his long suffering girlfriend (Susan Vidler) and a lonely nightwatchman (Peter Wight) guarding empty space. It's during this lengthy scene that David Thewlis proves to be one of the most versatile actors of his generation, delivering a speech of bleak complexity and pre-millennial doom that leaves most viewers reeling. Juxtaposed with Johnny is Louise's rapist Yuppie landlord (Greg Cruttwell), perhaps the weakest character in the movie. He's rich, crass and brutal, but also appears to be a sneering cartoon character, overshadowed by Johnny's hard edged intellect. Naked is the flip side of Leigh's previous movie, Life is Sweet. A bitter tale of loneliness, depression and Thatcher's wasted youth that seemed to be forgotten by most home grown film-makers in the mad rush to emulate Wall Street. Had a bad day? Then this is the equivalent of the Blues for the eyes and food for thought. Cheers Mr Leigh.

• Savage, Brutal, Brilliant.

  El_Farmerino_Esq2006-06-02

  There are precious few movies to which I would give a perfect rating and none so difficult to justify as Naked. Indeed, when I mention the depth of my appreciation for the film most who have seen it tend to reel in horror whilst deriding its unpleasantness... So how do I justify it? I could witter on about the brilliance of David Thewlis' performance, the excellent support cast, the devastatingly witty dialogue and Leigh's assured direction until the cows came home, but this still wouldn't totally do it. I can't say a lot about the plot because, well, there isn't a great deal of plot to speak of. So what is it? I'll tell you what it is: it's the honesty of it. The brutal, searing, sickening honesty. Here is a film unafraid to hold a mirror up to the dark, venal, destructive underbelly of our society - a film that portrays relentlessly and unflinchingly a side of our character which we'd prefer to simply sweep under the carpet. It takes everything that is immoral, degenerate and depraved in modern society and smears it all over the screen in a grubby orgy of loathing. It is not simply a movie with teeth but one with rabid, venomous, acid-tipped fangs, tearing and gnashing at our pompous ideas about our own natures. There are many movies which are fantastically enjoyable and make for a sterling night out with friends and family. This is not one of them. Naked is disturbing, unpleasant, frightening and utterly bleak. It is also quite brilliant.

• Razor-sharp social commentary - although too harsh for many stomachs.

  Pedro_H2004-11-06

  An unemployed - but intelligent - social misfit goes on the run to London following a back alley rape, but finds The Capital just as desperate and alienating as his native Manchester. This is one of the hardest films I have ever had to review. Topics such as urban alienation, career-choice unemployment, leeching, homelessness, drug taking and sexual violence would normally send me running for cover; but what we have here is so well constructed and so skilfully acted that it transcends it own headline topics. This is a classic case of car-wreck film making: You don't praise or celebrate much, yet it is deeply fascinating and even hypnotic. People are tap dancing on the edge of a metaphorical cliff - some are there of there of their own free will. Director Mike Leigh's semi-improvisational style doesn't always work, but here it really delivers something unique. You feel that you are watching real life even though too much happens in too short a time period for that to be the case. This is a wandering odyssey film and features a central performance - by David Thewlis - that ranks along the best ever witnessed in cinema. How the Oscar people could have (totally) turned their back on a performance as a good as this puzzles; although the film and actor won prizes in Cannes and New York. This is the first film I have ever seen that takes on sexual coercion in a head on fashion. People that have put themselves in a chemical or social situation where someone has something over them. The greasy upper crust landlord (Greg Cruttwell) might seem over-the-top to many but I know a few people actually like that! (For the record his actions would be deemed illegal in real life - if you have seen the film.) What happens to the on-screen people the day after this film ends? Has anything really changed? For Johnny - our central anti-hero - it will be just another day to duck and dive, avoid all work and wind people up using his extensive back reading.

• Devastating

  thearbiter2001-06-24

  In my adult life, this is the one and only film that has ever moved me to tears with its ending. It was like watching Michelangel applying his final daub to the Sistene Chapel, the incomprehensible achievement of a perfect artistic vision, and the attainment of a transcendent brilliance. For years, I had fantasized about becoming a writer / director, and actually put forth some appreciable effort to that end. This film, Mike Leigh's incomparable, unprecedented masterwork, cured me of that fantasy. He said, and did, in two hours, all that I could have hoped to achieve in an entire career, and it became gapingly obvious to me that I had no business in this medium. There is no "story" here, except that of the distilled essence of the hopeless pre-Millenial Western man, robbed of the promised nuclear annihilation he had always consciously feared, but subconsciously hoped for, if only to put the world out of its misery. The naked and the lost, the wandering spectre of the sentient living dead, and the pitiful yet mercifully ignorant companions that cross his path.

• masterpiece

  ajrussell732004-04-11

  "Don't waste your life" A security guard advises the nihilistic anti hero Johnny. This film is macabre, raw, and with dialogue as sharp as anything ever witnessed on celluloid. Mike Leigh created a dark brooding magnum opus with this portrait of early 90's London. His partnership with David Thewlis, who creates a fascinating and ribald character is simply astonishing. It is a performance that explores our very humanity. This film investigates the existential angst as portrayed by the protagonist Johnny of what is to survive; the main character gradually reveals himself before us stripped of pretence and standing "naked" . Johnny's diatribes tinged with apocalyptic tones upon the nature of the universe and beyond are breath taking. Sex and violence under pin the narrative of this film, and with Jonny adhering to no personal boundaries he embarks upon a journey that takes the viewer upon an uneasy and ultimately rewarding journey . The film is important as it shows the true power of the cinematic medium , and as a cultural reference to the pap produced by Hollywood; exposing the neutered offerings mainstream cinema is plagued with. This film shows Mike Leigh as a master of his art, expressed by the unique performances he elicits from his cast. This work of genius will be stumbled across in years to come and be celebrated by later generations for its language, its mood, and its effect which makes us engage in our very existence. A true testament to a magnificent achievement.