#307: LEIGH, Mike: Naked (1993)
LEIGH, Mike (United Kingdom)
Leigh was 50 when he wrote and directed Naked.
#890: Meantime (1984)
#659: Life Is Sweet (1990)
#1070: Secrets & Lies (1996)
#558: Topsy-Turvy (1999)
The Film
This film is a tough -- but exciting -- watch. For example, early on, Louise asks Johnny a simple question, which elicits one of the funniest lines in the movie:
Two discs
The Booklet
Two terrific essays -- by Derek Malcolm and Amy Taubin. Taubin's is particularly cogent, coming from a female viewpoint.
Commentary
With Leigh, Thewlis, and the late Katrin Cartlidge. Lots of fascinating details; Leigh discussses his process at length; Thewlis and Cartlidge add great anecdotes.
Video interview 1
with director Neil LaBute.
Video interview 2
"The Art Zone: The Conversation," with author Will Self.
Short
"The Short and Curlies," a short comedy from 1987, directed by Leigh and starring Thewlis.
Theatrical trailer
Wonder who had the bright idea to score the trailer to Rossini's "La Gazza Ladra" overture -- which cannot help but alert one's neurons to the violent scenes in Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange? Big deduction for such stupid marketing.
Extras Rating (0-40):
Naked [1993]
Spine #307
DVD
DVD
Mike Leigh's brilliant and controversial Naked stars David Thewlis as Johnny, a charming, eloquent, and relentlessly vicious drifter on the lam in London. Rejecting all those who would care for him, the volcanic Johnny hurls himself into a nocturnal odyssey through the city, colliding with a succession of the desperate and the dispossessed, and scorching everyone in his path. With a virtuoso script and raw performances from Thewlis and costars Katrin Cartlidge and Lesley Sharp, Leigh's panorama of England's crumbling underbelly is a showcase of black comedy and doomsday prophecy, and was the winner of the best director and actor prizes at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.
131 minutes
Color
Color
Stereo
1:85:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2005
Director/Writer
Leigh was 50 when he wrote and directed Naked.
Working closely with handpicked actors, Mike Leigh generally crafts his films with ideas that evolve from raw improvisations, which he then turns into a completely naturalistic mise en scène. He rehearses incessantly, carefully molding each scene, until a rough scenario emerges, and then he films it.
Other Leigh films in the Collection:
#890: Meantime (1984)
#659: Life Is Sweet (1990)
#1070: Secrets & Lies (1996)
#558: Topsy-Turvy (1999)
The Film
Naked begins with a violent sexual experience/rape which morphs into a late night drive in a stolen car, from Manchester to London. Johnny (David Thewlis), Louise (Lesley Sharp) -- his ex from Manchester -- and Sophie (Katrin Cartlidge), her roommate, are soon a comfy triangle.
This film is a tough -- but exciting -- watch. For example, early on, Louise asks Johnny a simple question, which elicits one of the funniest lines in the movie:
LOUISE
How did you get here?
JOHNNY
Well, basically, there was this little dot, right? And the dot went bang and the bang expanded. Energy formed into matter, matter cooled, matter lived, the amoeba to fish, to fish to fowl, to fowl to frog, to frog to mammal, the mammal to monkey, to monkey to man, amo amas amat, quid pro quo, memento mori, ad infinitum, sprinkle on a little bit of grated cheese and leave under the grill till Doomsday.
Still curious, Louise asks:
So what happened, were you bored in Manchester?
JOHNNY
Was I bored? No I wasn't fuckin' bored. I'm never bored. That's the trouble with everybody -- you're all so bored. You've had nature explained to you and you're bored with it, you've had the living body explained to you and you're bored with it, you've had the universe explained to you and you're bored with it. So now you want cheap thrills and like plenty of them, and it don't matter how tawdry or vacuous they are as long as it's new, as long as it flashes and fuckin' bleeps in forty fuckin' different colors. So whatever else you can say about me, I'm not fuckin' bored.
How did you get here?
JOHNNY
Well, basically, there was this little dot, right? And the dot went bang and the bang expanded. Energy formed into matter, matter cooled, matter lived, the amoeba to fish, to fish to fowl, to fowl to frog, to frog to mammal, the mammal to monkey, to monkey to man, amo amas amat, quid pro quo, memento mori, ad infinitum, sprinkle on a little bit of grated cheese and leave under the grill till Doomsday.
Still curious, Louise asks:
So what happened, were you bored in Manchester?
JOHNNY
Was I bored? No I wasn't fuckin' bored. I'm never bored. That's the trouble with everybody -- you're all so bored. You've had nature explained to you and you're bored with it, you've had the living body explained to you and you're bored with it, you've had the universe explained to you and you're bored with it. So now you want cheap thrills and like plenty of them, and it don't matter how tawdry or vacuous they are as long as it's new, as long as it flashes and fuckin' bleeps in forty fuckin' different colors. So whatever else you can say about me, I'm not fuckin' bored.
Thewlis -- in the role which kicked off his career -- is absolutely brilliant. We quickly get to know Johnny with that kind of dialogue.
In addition to Sharp and Cartlidge, both excellent, Greg Cruttwell gives character to an ugly role. Claire Skinner is fantastic as Sandra, who returns home from Africa to massive chaos, stuttering her way through with grave consternation.
Peter Wight plays Brian, a lonely security guard who invites Johnny into the sterile space he is "guarding." Perhaps he was taken with Johnny's humorous introduction:
BRIAN
What are you doing here?
JOHNNY
Well, I was standing over there, but that didn't seem to be working out for me, so I moved over here, but this one isn't much better.
What are you doing here?
JOHNNY
Well, I was standing over there, but that didn't seem to be working out for me, so I moved over here, but this one isn't much better.
Film Rating (0-60):
57
The ExtrasTwo discs
The Booklet
Two terrific essays -- by Derek Malcolm and Amy Taubin. Taubin's is particularly cogent, coming from a female viewpoint.
Commentary
With Leigh, Thewlis, and the late Katrin Cartlidge. Lots of fascinating details; Leigh discussses his process at length; Thewlis and Cartlidge add great anecdotes.
Video interview 1
with director Neil LaBute.
Video interview 2
"The Art Zone: The Conversation," with author Will Self.
Short
"The Short and Curlies," a short comedy from 1987, directed by Leigh and starring Thewlis.
Theatrical trailer
Wonder who had the bright idea to score the trailer to Rossini's "La Gazza Ladra" overture -- which cannot help but alert one's neurons to the violent scenes in Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange? Big deduction for such stupid marketing.
Extras Rating (0-40):
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