Movies - Naked

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	Movies - Naked

Naked (1993) is a British film directed by Mike Leigh.

Prior to this film, Leigh was known for more low-key, subtle comedic dissections of middle-class and working-class manners. Naked was more stark and brutal than his previous works.

Plot

After a bout of violent, mercenary sex in an alley with an unidentified woman, Johnny, a fiercely intelligent but disturbingly embittered working-class Mancunian steals a car and flees from his northern home to London to seek refuge with his former girlfriend Louise.

Behaving in a reckless, sadistic manner, he seduces her flatmate before embarking on an extended latter-day odyssey amongst the destitute and despairing of the UK's capital city.

During his encounters in London's seedy underbelly Johnny expounds his fatalist world-view at long and lyrical length to anyone who will listen; whilst the sinister presence of his girlfriend's landlord, Jeremy, lurks in the background. Johnny eventually suffers horribly at Jeremy's hands, and when the true owner of the flat returns from a trip overseas Johnny is compelled to leave, to throw himself back into the world as he has ostensibly done so many times before.

Themes

The film is minimal on plot, dependent on the audience's fascination on the interaction between the characters.

The film has been praised as an outstanding work of modern day realism, with highly convincing performances all round. The central character is in many ways deeply unpleasant, misogynistic, violent and incredibly rude. He is also very witty, and his appraisals of the dire situations he sees extremely honest. The film's great achievement is to create strong sympathy for such an anti-hero.

The film has been accused of glamorising anti-woman attitudes in creating such a compelling misogynist character, but scenes towards the end of the film in particular render that claim somewhat hollow. Amongst the huge array of disfunctional characters on offer in the film, only Louise, Johnny's former girlfriend, emerges at the end with any dignity. While Johnny is the most entertaining character of the film, Louise is its moral centre.

Main cast

David Thewlis
– Johnny
Lesley Sharp
– Louise Clancy
Katrin Cartlidge
– Sophie
Claire Skinner
– Sandra the Nurse
Ewen Bremner
– Archie the Scotsman with a Tick

Trivia

Almost all of David Thewlis
' dialogue is improvised.

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