American Nudist

Let's face it: you're watching this movie for the nudity. Of which there are gratuitous amounts.

But the "movie" surrounding it is so bizarre and horrible that it's just painful to watch. It's just not enjoyable.

Expectations are low for acting and story in a film like this, but this..fails to meet even those low expectations by a long shot.

Don't waste your time.

I got roped in by a nudist friend to watch this. Luckily, American Nudist is a definitely an art house film. I thought it was interesting they used nudism as the backdrop to tell their point (which, to me, was to be true to yourself). I guess Hollywood is running out of more "conventional" ideas lol! Anyway, once you get past the avant-garde, non-linear story line, it's actually quite an interesting look at someone slowly losing their sanity over their inability to combine what they feel is true and with what society tells them is true.

It's really an age-old story - the brilliant but troubled artist who tries to marry his vision with that old the world - and the resulting self-sabotaging behavior, neurosis, insecurities, and escapism that follows. Taylor Kong is a screenwriter who wants to write a groundbreaking film. However, he has a nudist past - something that is still a controversial topic in the United States. He wants to write a film that would bring American nudism to the forefront - to show it to mainstream American audiences as he knew it - an organic, intuitive, and innocent way of life. However, he gets caught up in Hollywood's over-sexualized and demonized version of nudism, and has to fight to maintain his vision and his sanity in a world that won't accept that being different does not mean being wrong. Which, I actually find very interesting, since you'd think that Hollywood (of all places!) would be all over a script on nudism! But I guess it's also a commentary on hypocrisy in society - I mean sex and being naked is pretty common in Hollywood, but when someone comes out and tries to be completely open about it, that's somehow not OK. This of course applies to other things that society at large can be hypocritical about. Luckily for Taylor, his one flicker of hope - his one connection between his world (that of nudism), and the outside conventional world - is Jennifer, and aspiring non-nudist actress who is open-minded enough to give Taylor and nudism a chance. Though they have their differences, they slowly see at the most fundamental level, we are all the same. This is ultimately a story of how trying to conform one's own true self to the demands of society is psychologically toxic and is the cause of mental instability.

Not a nudist/naturist movie. Just an obscure, totally failed attempt to create an art-house movie of some sort based on this guy's obsession to make the movie we're watching about WANTING to go to a nudist resort with a model--they never go. Faux violence (I'm not into violence and hate the kind of violence they were portraying), was preformed so poorly it was just pathetic.

As to the nudity shown, I beg to differ with another reviewer, there just wasn't very much and it was mostly quick-shots designed to titillate rather than present anything remotely what nudism/naturism is about.

So bad, plotless, and erratic (No, not erotic.) that it couldn't even become a cult film.

I rarely say this thinking everyone should be given a chance, but save your time and avoid this one.

It's silly how nowadays some people look for excuses to show boobs (for me Game Of Thrones is one example). This "movie" is irritating in that sense. Also it's a bit offensive. Let me expand on that. On one hand, all the nudity he filmed (not the "documental" part of the thing) was exclusively women showing their boobs. Do you really need to make an excuse for that? You could easily have made a porno, and you could have banged your cast mates. That was all you wanted. Men can also be nudist, duh. On the other hand, it pisses me off the way the naked body of a woman must always be used as a way to sell things (PETA's adds are always with naked women, men are always dressed). Halfway through the film I had to stop, so, I just endured about 50 minutes. That's to say a lot IMHO.

American Nudist is not what you will expect when you hear the term "nudist film." T. L. Young plays Taylor, a former nudist who claims he used to run a nudist club in his home town in Hawaii.

Influenced by the films such as "All That Jazz," and Bob Fosse's Joe Gideon, Taylor's women are a major influence in his life, from his college sweetheart Aymi (played by Simmin Yu,) who had been his first muse, to his former flame Angela (Alicia Arden) who runs a nude bed and breakfast (wow!), to his current lover Jennifer, (Magda Marcella) the film chronicles his inner struggle as a nude photographer no longer in touch with the nudist world except through his commercial work and newscasts of naked happenings he can't be a part of.

Taylor is always wearing a suit, even when he jumps into a swimming pool in a nudist resort. Fortunately, Angela has no qualms being naked, and is very clothes-free throughout most of the film.

His models are gorgeous, familiar faces such as Nicole D'Angelo, Josie Goldberg and Tiffany Bowyer, yet he feels depressed, burned out and uninspired. And juggling his relationships with his work and a philosophy he feels alienated from, it's no wonder why.

Case in point, he even delivers a monologue about a beautiful moment in his life, related to his nudist journey, to his cat, very likely because he can't confide that fact to a human being.

The picture quality of this film is beautiful and the way it's edited immediately brought those aforementioned films to mind. Those expecting the standard nudist fare of the sixties, be warned. This is not your grandpa's nudie cutie but a very stylized, introspective chronicle of a artist's life and his work.

Nicely done.