(UK 1993 131m) DVD1/2
The end of the world is nigh
p Simon Channing-Williams d/w Mike Leigh ph Dick Pope ed Jon Gregory m Andrew Dickson art Alison Chitty
David Thewlis (Johnny), Lesley Sharp (Louise), Katrin Cartlidge (Sophie), David Wight (Brian), Greg Crutwell (Jeremy), Claire Skinner (Sandra), Ewen Bremner (Archie), Susan Vidler (Maggie), Gina McKee (girl in café), Deborah MacLaren (woman in window),
If ever a film demanded to be referred to as apocalyptic, this was it. If ever a film demanded to be referred to as nihilistic, call off the hounds, it’s here. Yet to merely pigeonhole this film or attach such vague terms as these is an act of gross misunderstanding, for in many ways this is the very antithesis of nihilistic. Here is a film about a society, and a protagonist, crying out for something to believe in. At the time of its release, it shocked people, in the way too few films shock. It may have won the big prizes at Cannes in its year, but it was ignored at most end of year award ceremonies. True, 1993 was probably the greatest cinematic year of its decade, with masterpieces by Kieslowski, Spielberg and Campion also emerging above the horizon, but Leigh’s film has always been there, lingering like a bad smell that won’t go away. Over ten years on, what at first seemed merely a radical change of direction for Leigh, and a graduation to cinematic maturity, now in many ways seems the most essential British film of its decade.
Johnny is an unemployed (unemployable?) Mancunian who leaves Manchester in a hurry after a sexual encounter in an alley (one assumes his rape of a married woman, who threatens to get him beaten up). He steals a car and hotfoots it down to London, where on a whim he goes to the home of his ex, Louise, who has been working as a secretary in the city. Finding her not in, he is let in by Louise’s unemployed flatmate, Sophie, and they spend the day chatting together waiting for Louise to get home. Thus begins Johnny’s odyssey in the capital, one that will be a life changer for many he meets.
Leigh’s film is admittedly a very hard film to like, but it’s that very unloveliness that rings truest. For sure, Crutwell’s truly odious sexually deviant yuppie is rather a cliché, but in Leigh’s eyes he’s not so much a character as a cyst, one containing all the puss of the diseases crippling modern London – apathy, loneliness, despair, poverty and a host of others – with Leigh and Thewlis the maladjusted surgeons. The idea of a character spending a night or two in a city they do not understand or know is hardly a new one, having been the pitch for many famous films. But in most other cases there’s a sense of wonder at moving into the unknown. Leigh’s protagonist rather acts like a guide to hell, his wanderings into the despair of the city mirroring his own misogynistic, fatalistic, cynical persona. Leigh obviously feels some pity for his lonely souls and their moribund existences, and he would go on to explore that still further in his later films. Yet Naked doesn’t merely show you the disillusionment of modern everyday people, it forces you to look deeper, and the more you look, the less you find, and the more empty you are made to feel. In truth, an equally apt title would be Lost.
What in the end really takes the film into the stratosphere, however, is the performance of David Thewlis. No disrespect to the rest of the cast, including various recognisable faces (particular credit to Wight and the late, wonderful Cartlidge), but the film loses electricity whenever he is off screen. It’s one of the most edgy, brilliant, fiery performances in the modern cinema. “All you have to look forward to is sickness and purgatory” he warns, later despairing at how mankind has become expendable and too easily bored. He’s a despicable character in so many ways, capable of numerous atrocious acts, yet you are very much with him, and this is a great testament to Thewlis’ skill as an actor. Just to think of the truly apocalyptic conversation with Wight in a disused office building is to ponder greatness. Above all, though, it’s his ready wit one recalls, perfectly encapsulated in a wonderful moment where he sees Bremner looking for his missing girlfriend with cries of “Maggie!!!” and he replies “she’s gone, mate. Those days are over.”
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I didn’t see this one ciming from a million miles away. Yet I’ll still say its a fabulous choice. This was the Mike Leigh film that made me look forward to his next works (SECRETS AND LIES is a particular favorite) and investigate his work prior works (I loved LIFE IS SWEET). As Allan alludes, this is really like a guide touring you through the hell of life, making you realize we mask and disquise our monotony as something kore palatable. In a yeaqr that saw great lead performances by men (Liam Neeson-SCHINDLERS LIST, Anthony Hopkins-REMAINS OF THE DAY, TOM HANKS-PHILADELPHIA), Thewlis’s electrifying turn could equal or best all of them. Gritty, frightening and cynically truthful he’s the kind of guy you hate to admit is right.
I’m not at all surprised to see this on Allan’s list. A great movie, a fantastic performance from Thewlis – because of his riveting charisma as Johnny I have to disagree that this is a difficult film to like: on paper yes, but Thewlis makes it easy “in the flesh.” I’m quite liking the 90s countdown, Allan, though perhaps it’s just self-satisfaction upon finally having seen most of your picks!
I should I’m not surprised because its harsh, bleak, intense, yet darkly witty style is right up Mr. Fish’s alley…
Harsh, bleak, intense…yes, that’s me…
Forbidding, doomladen, despairing, depressing…the sort of movies needing musical accompaniment by John Dowland.
There are very few times I’ve seen a film so powerful it draws an array of reactions. Some have called it misogynistic, disgusting, unwatchable, pointless, filth etc. In my opinion, its the definitive masterpiece of the decade and one of the ten best films I’ve ever seen. The film never truly got the respect it deserves and most times never even mentioned when people talk about the best films of the 90s. It’s doesn’t have the epic stature or “importance” as something like Schindler’s List or as ultra cool as Pulp Fiction or even the stylishness and craft of something like Goodfellas. Yet Mike Leigh’s masterpiece has stood the test of time as wel las those films and all in all is much more challenging film as well as one that covers far more thought provoking territory. The way Mike Leigh, one of the greatest British directors ever, shows us the stark and bleak reality of post-Thatcher Britain is devastating as is his social critique of the class differences. The performances are all great, but its David Thewlis who steals the show as Johnny. He is able to bring the psychologically disturbed character to life and give a performance that reaches a level authenticity that can’t help but remind me of Brando at his peak. The film has aged beautifully and is far too low on the countdown.
I definitely feel like this is at least top 15, but still, nice to see it included on the list and a very good review.
Naked knocked me out when I saw it in the theaters. As far as I was concerned it was a one-man show, and it appalled me to see Hollywood attempt to embrace Thewlis as a phenom without having a clue of what to do with him (Dragonheart, for instance). There was definitely something in the air for male actors in 1993. Let’s make a fivesome of Thewlis, Neeson, Hopkins, Hanks and Bill Murray in Groundhog Day and I don’t think any other year of the decade could top them.
Take Hanks out of that and we’d go for it, I’d take Day-Lewis for either Age of Innocence or In the Name of the Father, or Jeff Bridges for Fearless over Hanks any day of the week. or Nick Hope in Bad Boy Bubby or Zbigniew Zamachowski in Three Colours White if including non American films.