Naked

I first watched the movie on a recommendation and was hooked on Mike Leigh movies ever after.

Naked does not mess around with polite small talk, No, it truly baptizes the viewer into a gritty, dirty puddle of London which leaves you feeling like taking a shower after your through.

When I watched Naked as a student I had been to London only once, having now lived in the capital for over two years I have seen the dirty underbelly and appreciate the honesty of leigh's film more so now than ever.

I particularly enjoyed 'The wandering Scots', and the 'Security Guard' whom are both lost, yet in very different ways.

Thinking back to the time i watched it i was captivated by the dialog, and the self destructive element that hung like dynamite around our characters. This frustrated me than but now being more mature i can accept it as inevitable for these individuals.

I can honestly say that there are not many movies that make one feel this way, make one reflect and feel so empty looking at Johnys life and future...

I have the utmost respect for all the actors in this film. Yet, it has been a number of years since i have watched it as it is a long embarkation through the soul of human suffering...watch it for the pure genius that is Mike & David but be sure to watch it in good company that has an open mind.

Enjoy

One of the most powerful British films of the 90s. Mike Leigh directs David Thewlis in an unrelenting, uncompromisingly cynical portrayal of self-loathing and alienation

In this, Leigh's toughest, most uncompromising work for cinema, Thewlis turns in a stunningly uningratiating performance. He utterly immerses himself in the role of Johnny, an articulate, disenfranchised angry young man, who's escaped Manchester after a bit of rough outdoor sex turns into something a lot like rape.

Johnny flees to London to hook up with an old girlfriend Louise (Sharp). While wandering around the city he gives free rein to his unfocused rage and indulges in some further degrading sexual encounters, notably with the dippy and compliant Sophie (Cartlidge).

This is brilliant stuff, but hard to stomach. Once again Leigh proves what a big problem he has with London's bourgeoisie, particularly with his portrayal of the smooth, sexually exploitative Jeremy (Cruttwell).

Leigh gives us so little to cling to here. There is barely a symphathetic character aside from security guard Brian (Wright), who dreams of escaping to Ireland. So the viewer is stuck with the edgy autodidact Johnny. It's an immensely powerful film about self-loathing and urban alienation, but, Thewlis' remarkable performanace notwithstading, staying the two hour distance is asking for a lot, even from die-hard Leigh fans.

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.

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.

This is one of my favourite films. I don't think that you can necessarily call it realistic. Johnny in particular seems to be one of those characters that you sometimes see in psychological dramas in film, theatre and literature who embodies too many extreme characteristics in his mode of living and his thought processes and experiences too many hyperintense situations in the short timescale of the film's action to be wholly believable. So you probably won't meet a cynical, sharply witty and intelligent and cruel f**k-up quite like that even from Manchester. But I don't think that that detracts from the film as some of the other commenters seem to feel - I don't mind a bit of staginess! David Thewlis's performance fills me with awe. His speech, his facial expressions, the way he moves and holds his body are electrifying. He is an incredibly damaged character who uses his (sometimes inhumanly) sharp wit and intelligence to cruelly torment and exploit those around him instead of trying to use his obvious gifts in a more positive way to help himself and the other human flotsam that he encounters. For all his strength of will and powers of endurance, he is weak because he revels in his nihilism and his desire to crush other unfortunates. He could never have a genuinely open mutual compassionate relationship with another human being. But thanks to the brilliance of DT he becomes one of the most magnetic screen characters ever. I love Mike Leigh and I love David Thewlis (he always plays unusual characters but not often misanthropes - the man is a great actor). I love this movie. 'Nuff said.