** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** These two reviews of NAKED (#2301, #2302) were written by ** ** two different people, though the posting account is the same. ** ** We saw the movie together, compared notes, experiences and ** ** discussed it over calzones and beer at a local bar. I think ** ** you'll find the differing perspectives illuminating. ** ** -Tak ** ** -Cloe ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
NAKED
a film review by Tak
Placed in the public domain 1993 by Mark Takacs
FineLine Features / 126 mins / unrated Open in January in Seattle theatres Tak Rating: see once at full price (sorta more.. see discussion at end)
TV-Style-One-Line-Summary ------------------------- A bleak, apocalyptic derelict flays the comfortable illusions away from everyone he meets, strangers and friends alike.
Tak Summary ----------- This movie doesn't have much of a "plot" in that the characters are out to save the world, solve a mystery, or avoid a slasher. Rather, it's a character study. We're watching Johnny, a likable slimebag as he moves about from bars, to his ex's apartment, back to the streets, and back to the the apartment. That's about it.
But, oh, the things you'll experience along the way. Just let director Mike Leigh yank your emotions over various sugar-coated razors, gilded knives, and warm, fuzzy, cuddly, parasites.
Tak Thoughts ------------ Ok, first a confession. I missed the first fifteen minutes, as we had difficulty finding the theatre. (Yeah, I know, how hard can it be? Trust me, this one's *obscure*.) So there may have been things (perhaps important things) at the beginning that I missed. However, I think the rest of the movie was compelling enough to warrant a review, or perhaps I should call it a "warning."
Think back to that movie you saw that really, really, disturbed you--but in such a way that you just *might* wanna watch it again, tell some friends about it, or at least think about it for a long time to come. Was it perhaps ERASERHEAD or other David Lynch madness? Maybe it was DELIVERANCE? How about the pain and anguish in FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE? Or maybe some little scene hidden in an otherwise innocuous movie like FLATLINERS? Well, NAKED shoves all those right aside to get my vote as most disturbing movie.
The title is aptly picked. NAKED is not about naked flesh (more on this in a bit), it is about naked emotions. After watching this movie, I felt as if my defenses had been stripped away, and held high over my head, leaving my naked emotions bubbling up all over the place and making a mess. (Where'd that come from?! -self_editing_tak) I think the director's main tool in achieving this is the "satanic angel," Johnny. He's such a likable guy on the surface. You really *want* to like him. I actually found myself making excuses and forgiving this slimebag.
Why's he a slimebag? Well, he's the essence of the abuse of power. And he really gets into it--in all kinds of ways. There are several scenes where he date-rapes women, and numerous other equally disturbing scenes without physically abuse. No, far worse, he merely *talks* to them and presents them with a black and twisted reflection of their life. I think that's far worse. In one scene, he charms his way into a lonely, shy, and painfully co-dependent waitress's apartment. He charms her into feeding him, steals her favorite book while her back is turned, uses her shower, then turns on her verbally. He exposes all her little self-lies about where her life is headed, what she's doing now, what she did in the past, and tries to toy with her sense of pity. Luckily, she has the sense to throw him out, but he leaves her shattered and crying at the top of her stairs.
Aside from all that, he's a likable character. I think I liked him because he's a surly bastard/cuss. He's got a razor sharp wit, cutting sarcasm, a sense of irony, and a broad-ranging knowledge. But it was disturbing to find yourself liking Johnny and suddenly remembering or seeing more of his atrocities. Makes me really wonder how I could like someone so thoroughly nasty.
Not *once* is sex or nudity portrayed in anything close to a sensual, erotic or even desirable fashion. Actually, I was rather repulsed by the whole concept of nudity and sex for awhile after this movie. Eeah. The only time you see flesh is when it is being sexually or physically abused. Jeremy, as loathsome a figure as Johnny, continually struts around in nothing but skimpy briefs that show off his trim figure. Leigh seems to be associating sexuality and the body image with some very unattractive behaviors and ideas.
At one point in the movie Johnny is offered a chance to change his life around. We see him dreaming of a better life in another place. But when Louise, the strongest character in the movie, offers him a chance to realize his dream, he declines. I'm left with the impression that he's much more comfortable complaining about how bad life is, rather than doing anything about it.
This movie is *ripe* for moral analogies. In one interpretation, Johnny represents the petty abuses of power. He's a derelict and his crimes are senseless and random.
Jeremy also abuses power, although he is wealthy, confident, irrepressibly arrogant, smug and in a traditional position of power. The most disturbing thing about his rape scene was not the actual act, but the inevitable acceptance with which Sofie accepted it. I saw it coming a mile away, and so did she. She actually shrugged and sighed, as if to say "Not this again..." At that point, it wasn't "rape," but "sleeping-with-your-pig-of-a-boss" kind of attitude, but it quickly got way outta Sofie's control.
The main women in the movie seen to represent a broad spectrum of how people in society deal with abuses in power. Sofie puts up with it, another ignores and denies it, and Louise won't take any of it.
On a good note, Johnny has some fascinating speeches. Two of my favorite scenes in the movie were when Johnny explains that bar codes are the "sign of the beast" foretold in Revelation, and a when Johnny tries to re-unite some oddly matched Scottish(?) lovers. And a scene toward the end of the movie where the distraught apartment owner tries to restore sanity to her house provides much needed comic relief.
Technical Comments (bitch-n-moan section)
Tak Rating system: ------------------ This is a hard one. I really did like this movie, though it wasn't exactly fun. I'd definitely recommend you experience it (Don't just *see* it). But it is disturbing and you'll need to talk/brood about it afterwards. I might be tempted to see this again, but only in the same manner that you'd pick at a scab or carefully worry a toothache that is capable of sharp, piercing pains.
avoid at all costs
watch it on cable
wait for videotape
see once as a matinee
see several times (w/friends) as matinee
X see once at full price
see it several times - full and/or matinee
see many times at full price
ps: And here's some more text from the Press Release....
Press Synopsis/Scream sheet --------------------------- Two major awards were bestowed upon NAKED at last spring's Cannes Film Festival--Mike Leigh (HIGH HOPES, LIFE IS SWEET) garnered the Best Director prize and David Thewlis' riveting performance resulted in the Best Actor reward. For writer/director Leigh, NAKED marks a shift from the skewed and wildly imaginative themes of his earlier work to one that contains a deeper and darker undercurrent as he renders a provocative and moving vision of contemporary England. Still remaining at the core of a Leigh film is a gallery of eccentrics coupled with offbeat black comedy.
Johnny (Thewlis) is a vagrant enduring a life devoid of meaning or direction. His scroungy good looks inspire trust and beneath the skinny frame and sad expression there is a sense of reassurance. But it is all a disguise. This satanic angel is as capable of expressing love as is Jack the Ripper. Wandering London, Johnny leaves a trail of living corpses--wild flights of absurd rhetoric are interspersed with the most eccentric of characters. All the while, he is half-hearted in his avowed goal of reconciliation with his former girlfriend. As seen through the eyes of Johnny, NAKED is a compelling portrait of urban existence where the viewer alternately sees the violence and gentleness, the comedy and tragedy of life. Acclaims were embellished upon NAKED as it premiered at the recent New York Film Festival with critic Vincent Canby stating, "a brilliant somersault of a movie that lands Leigh in new cinematic territory."
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews