Mike Leigh movies are never exactly laugh riots, but even with that "Naked" is one of the most dismal and surly films I've ever seen from him.
Actually, the whole movie was a bit too one note for me, that one note being nihilistic. Leigh only diffuses his relentless tone of gloom in the film's last few moments, when it lurches unexpectedly and not entirely successfully into a kind of screwball comedy. It's a film that basically says men are brutes and pigs, and women are spineless victims -- it's not a flattering picture of either gender, and it doesn't have anything profound or even productive to say.
However, and this is a big "However," the film does have one huge asset to recommend it, and that is David Thewlis. He gives a fascinating and completely unique performance as Johnny, a sort of vagabond philosopher who wanders from stranger to stranger over the course of a long London night, pontificating about the meaning of existence and brutalizing just about every woman he comes across. Leigh presents London as a city full of lost souls, vulnerable to the opportunists who may come along to take advantage. One of those opportunists is the enigmatic Jeremy, a well-dressed affluent monster who glories in raping women and treating them like dogs. If Thewlis and his character is the film's strongest selling point, the character of Jeremy is its weakest. The two men exist separately for most of the movie, only to come together at the end. I'm not sure what purpose Jeremy's existence in the film serves, unless he's simply there to make Johnny look better. Certainly by the film's end, we've seen Johnny behave miserably, but we've also seen him treat his on-again-off-again girlfriend with something approaching affection, and Thewlis is so good that he's able to let us glimpse enough of Johnny's charm to make us understand why any woman would be remotely interested in him in the first place.
This film reminded me of a Martin Amis novel. It has a slightly surrealistic, nightmare quality to it, and it's so caustic as to be off putting. But I would recommend it if for no other reason than to see Thewlis's remarkable performance.
Grade: B+
Actually, the whole movie was a bit too one note for me, that one note being nihilistic. Leigh only diffuses his relentless tone of gloom in the film's last few moments, when it lurches unexpectedly and not entirely successfully into a kind of screwball comedy. It's a film that basically says men are brutes and pigs, and women are spineless victims -- it's not a flattering picture of either gender, and it doesn't have anything profound or even productive to say.
However, and this is a big "However," the film does have one huge asset to recommend it, and that is David Thewlis. He gives a fascinating and completely unique performance as Johnny, a sort of vagabond philosopher who wanders from stranger to stranger over the course of a long London night, pontificating about the meaning of existence and brutalizing just about every woman he comes across. Leigh presents London as a city full of lost souls, vulnerable to the opportunists who may come along to take advantage. One of those opportunists is the enigmatic Jeremy, a well-dressed affluent monster who glories in raping women and treating them like dogs. If Thewlis and his character is the film's strongest selling point, the character of Jeremy is its weakest. The two men exist separately for most of the movie, only to come together at the end. I'm not sure what purpose Jeremy's existence in the film serves, unless he's simply there to make Johnny look better. Certainly by the film's end, we've seen Johnny behave miserably, but we've also seen him treat his on-again-off-again girlfriend with something approaching affection, and Thewlis is so good that he's able to let us glimpse enough of Johnny's charm to make us understand why any woman would be remotely interested in him in the first place.
This film reminded me of a Martin Amis novel. It has a slightly surrealistic, nightmare quality to it, and it's so caustic as to be off putting. But I would recommend it if for no other reason than to see Thewlis's remarkable performance.
Grade: B+