MAIN CAST:

Johnny (David Thewlis)
Sophie (Katrin Cartlidge)
Louise (Lesley Sharpe)
Jeremy (Greg Cruttwell)
Sandra (Clare Skinner)
Brian (Peter Wright)
Archie (Ewen Bremner)
Maggie (Susan Vidler)
Older dancing woman in window (Deborah MacLaren)
Girl in café (Gina McKee)

RELEASED IN 1993

Devised and directed by Mike Leigh
Produced by Simon Channing-Williams

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Aside from Mike Leigh's rather depressing 'Bleak Moments' film which was released in the early 1970s as one of his first offerings, most of his plays and movies centre around quirky characters and portray slices of their rather upside-down lives, mixing (for the viewer) humour with frustration. 'Naked' is no exception to this generalised rule, but it is the first of Mike Leigh's films that I'm aware of which really pushes the boat out, taking quite a few strides down some very dark and grim cinematic highways.

I'm not sure if 'Naked' is one of these Mike Leigh creations whereby he leaves the cast to largely adlib around the basic structure he sets down or whether there is a definite script, but I'd aim my guesswork at the latter in this case, due to the complexity of a lot of the film's dialogue.

There is no plot as such to the film, but there is a loose storyline in that it's largely about what happens to Mancunian Johnny (David Thewlis) when he escapes from his homeland in a stolen car to London to visit his ex-girlfriend Louise (Lesley Sharpe), after raping a girl and fearing for his safety when she threatens to tell her boyfriend what happened.

Johnny's arrival at Louise's flat which she shares with two other girls produces some mixed fortunes in that although one part of her (Louise) is pleased to see him, the other part is angry with him. Sophie (Katrin Cartlidge) takes a fancy to Johnny, and both of them flaunt kissing, flirting and touching up sessions in front of Louise, which angers her even more.

That's only the basis for the film though, and as you watch, you will be drawn into a very gritty, bordering upon brutal world of London's street life (particularly at night), a vicious and sadistic landlord, not to mention the rather disturbing inner workings of Johnny's brilliant, but disjointed and dark mind.

I'll give what I intend to be a very brief synopsis of each of the main characters:

JOHNNY
Johnny is an exceptionally intelligent young man with astonishing levels of articulacy, yet he has a dark personality that could be described as borderline psychopath. Irritated easily and viewing most other people as being inadequate empty-heads, loud-mouth Johnny's levels of frustration compound throughout the film. He is also very selfish, and if he sees something he wants, he just takes it, regardless of the consequences. Sarcastic, belittling, scathing, impatient, sadistic and utilising (when it suits him) a cruel and cutting wit, occasionally Johnny will just show a fleeting sensitivity bordering upon gruff kindness, but the darkness of his powerful and brilliant mind is the controlling and driving force behind this almost insane individual. In a somewhat perverse way, Johnny is a kind of an idealist - once you have seen the character in action, that concept might be hard to come to grips with - but much of his frustration and anger stems from a deep mistrust of people and the world, and he has a vision of how life should be, but is disillusioned to the point of furious despair.

SOPHIE
Sophie is a rather beautiful-looking young girl who does show a degree of reasonable intelligence levels, but she is rather batty, screwed-up and off with the fairies. Her life is one huge disaster, but she just gets on with it.....oscillating from one emotional trauma to the next. Sophie is a pseudo goth who knows how attractive she is to men, and she tries to use this to her advantage, but deep down her vulnerability makes her a victim, rather than a solid and interesting person to get involved with. She blunders her way through life, living on the dole, quaffing cans of beer, smoking joints, and though basically good-natured and easy-going, is somewhat selfish in that she has no qualms about how her general disposition and overly casual attitude to life inconveniences other people.

LOUISE
Louise is an ordinary girl of a rather wishy-washy disposition, who fled from Manchester to live in London when her relationship with Johnny came to an end. She comes across fairly depressed in the film, resigned to her lot in life and disappointed that her move to London didn't bring the glamorous lifestyle she was hoping for. Still deep down in love with Johnny, she tries to rekindle their old relationship when he turns up at the flat she shares with Sophie and Sandra.

JEREMY
Elocuted, velvet-voiced Jeremy is Sophie, Louise and Sandra's landlord. He is a wealthy and on the surface classy young man, into conducting complex business deals, driving flashy cars, eating at expensive restaurants, and charming women into his boudoir. Outwardly and on first impressions, Jeremy is personable, with impeccable manners - smart, well spoken and rich - he's also very good-looking, but not too far beneath the polished façade lies a cold, calculating, cruel, vicious and very disturbed individual.

SANDRA
Sandra is a neurotic nurse who is a bit batty, and a bit of a control-freak, though she views herself as being the opposite. She likes everything to be shipshape all the time, and her flatmates Sophie and Louise are a constant source of frustration to her. Believing herself to be a little above everyone else, it's a deliciously squirming moment in the film to watch Johnny skilfully bring her down quite a few pegs.

BRIAN
Brian is a rather lonely person – a middle-aged pseudo-intellect night watchman at a London office block, who makes a valiant attempt at befriending Johnny. Boring, dull, verbose and far less intelligent than he believes himself to be, he stupidly enters into a battle of the wits - poorly armed - with Johnny, as they while part of a night away together.

ARCHIE & MAGGIE
Archie and Maggie are girlfriend and boyfriend, roaming the streets of London. Having run away from their abusive homes in Glasgow, they find that London isn't the mecca of fame, riches and fortune they were expecting. Johnny makes a hilarious attempt at befriending the aggressive Archie (who's intelligence levels are seriously questionable), and after becoming quickly bored with Archie's responses, moves onto befriending Maggie for a short while.

OLDER DANCING WOMAN IN WINDOW
We never learn this middle-aged lady's name in the film, but she's a frustrated, sad, depressed, lonely, desperate person with a huge drink problem who lives alone in somewhat of a fantasy world, and is briefly befriended by Johnny.

GIRL IN CAFÉ
Another one whose name we never learn! Johnny spends a little time with this apathetic, borderline depressed young lady and they have a very interesting, sometimes tense and sometimes tender interaction with one another.
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'Naked' is a film which concentrates itself in a very unique way on some rather bizarre characters, and an absolutely stunning dialogue. Though it is one of my all-time favourite films, I wouldn't describe it as enjoyable to watch - albeit it does have one or two very amusing moments (my favourite being the dialogue that passes between Johnny and Glaswegian Archie) - but it is grippingly interesting. This is a film about madness, domination, control, brutality and the darker side of sex and human relationships, with an adult rating - definitely not one for the kids or for the tender-minded, as contained within, are some very graphic scenes of sexual violence, plus lots and lots of very strong language.

Each actor plays their part with a depth and precision that I consider would be very hard to improve upon, particularly David Thewlis. He truly should have received an Oscar for his masterful portrayal of the deep, scathing, hard-hitting character of Johnny.

The very first time I saw 'Naked', I was expecting it to be similar in content to most of Mike Leigh's other cinematic offerings and his plays - I certainly didn't bargain for the intense grittiness that the film projects, nor the power with which it blasted itself inside my brain and truly made me think.

So, what did it make me think about? Well, firstly it brought home to me how sordid the darkest end of London street life is....OK I knew it before, but watching 'Naked' reinforced it for me and removed any rose-coloured specs I may have put in place. Secondly, the film set my brain on a track of questioning life, the universe and everything, largely inspired by Johnny's conversational expostulations. I did find a couple of the sex scenes quite disturbing - one because of the sheer brutality displayed while the act was taking place, and the other from the point of view of it being sinister.

I feel that 'Naked' is universally a very under-rated film, but quite likely is considered a unique masterpiece by the more open-minded section of fans of Mike Leigh's work. The atmosphere created is dark, depressing, gritty and harsh - there is no joy or light in the film at all - but it is very accurate as regards the sections of life it deals with. The acting skills of the cast are second to none, the greatest accolade in my opinion going to David Thewlis, with the late Katrin Cartlidge running a little way behind in second place.

'Naked' certainly won't appeal to everybody, but if you like a good dose of harsh realism and aren't easily shocked/offended, then I'd recommend you give it a watch - with the reinforced warning that it contains graphic scenes of sexual violence, and a lot of very strong language. Even if the whole film would be a bit too dark and intense for a lot of people, I’d say it’s worth watching just to see the interaction between Johnny and Glaswegian Archie. That part happens early on in the film before the nastier stuff hits. The short exchange between Johnny and Glaswegian Archie can be viewed as a 4min or so long clip on YouTube; the clip does contain Anglo-Saxon expletives though, so if you can’t bear to listen to a bit of profanity, then maybe it’s best to give it a miss.

As far as purchasing 'Naked' is concerned, on Amazon it seems it is only available as part of a collection of Mike Leigh's works.

You can buy the film on its own for £13.99 (free p&p/delivery within the UK) from moviemail-online.co.uk (www. of course), and the website has a facility whereby you can view a short trailer. It isn't clear though if the film is being sold on video or DVD, although I would assume it's DVD. There is also a review of 'Naked' on the more detailed sales page, but I beg please don't read it as it's 100s of times better than what I've written here lol.

It's no good looking for the whole movie in sections on YouTube, as although it used to be there with the sex scenes greyed out, it now seems it has been entirely removed, and all you can watch are little snippets and trailers. They may be worth viewing if you would like to get a taste of what 'Naked' is like before buying though.

Thanks for reading!

~~ Also published on DooYoo under my GentleGenius user name ~~