Naked (1993)

Mike Leigh's 1993 film NAKED is a drama on sexual relations -- how men hurt women, how some women accept that hurt out of low self-esteem and a desire to be wanted or supported. It is distinguished by its remarkably lifelike characters. Most of the film was worked out in improvisations for several months before shooting began. Leigh wanted his actors to create elaborate back stories for their characters, fully living inside of them so that when the cameras started rolling they would be completely convincing. As the film opens, Johnny (David Thewlis) has to flee Manchester after a sexual enc…

Filipe Manuel Neto

4.0

Dec 17, 2023

**Unpleasant and uncomfortable, often highly appreciated by critics, it is understandably forgotten by the public.** Mike Leigh directs with skill and intelligence a film that is far from pleasing everyone and that doesn't mind being uncomfortable: it tells the story of a man who hides in an ex-girlfriend's house to avoid being prosecuted for rape, and which we will follow through various adventures and dialogues that oscillate between nihilism, the “nonsense” and the deeply philosophical. He's an unpleasant man with somewhat sadistic touches, but the film is full of unpleasant characters i…

CinemaSerf

7.0

Mar 14, 2024

Yikes, but this is a depressingly bleak story. David Thewlis is a rather dissolute and violent Mancunian who arrives in London with nowhere to stay. "Johnny" makes his way to the home of his ex "Louise" (Lesley Sharp). They briefly hook up again, but he soon tires of what he can get on a plate and sets off back onto the streets for a series of encounters with the nocturnal types who inhabit the city and provide us with a series of quirky short stories. Whilst "Johnny" is out philandering, "Louise" and her flatmate "Sophie" (Catrin Cartlidge) are being bullied by their landlord - the sadistic "…