Naked (1993 film)
| Naked | |
|---|---|
UK poster
|
|
| Directed by | Mike Leigh |
| Produced by | Simon Channing Williams |
| Written by | Mike Leigh |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Andrew Dickson |
| Cinematography | Dick Pope |
| Edited by | Jon Gregory |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | First Independent Films (UK) Fine Line Features (US) |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
131 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,769,306 (USA) |
Naked is a 1993 British black comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh. Before this film, Leigh was known for subtler comedic dissections of middle-class and working-class manners. Naked was more stark and brutal than his previous works. Leigh relied heavily on improvisation in the making of the film, but little actual ad-libbing was filmed; lengthy rehearsals in character provided much of the script. Almost all the dialogues were filmed as written. The film received largely favourable reviews. Filming took place in London from 9 September to 16 December 1992.
After a sexual encounter with a married woman in an alley in Manchester turns into a rape, Johnny steals a car and flees for Dalston, "a scrawny, unpretentious area" in the east of London, to seek refuge with his former girlfriend, fellow Mancunian Louise.
Intelligent, educated and eloquent, Johnny is also deeply embittered and egotistical: he will fight and provoke anyone he meets to prove his superiority. His tactics of choice in verbal interaction are based on a particular form of intellectual bullying, uniformly directed at people less cultured than himself, and summed up in domineering, scholastic barrages drawn from eclectic sources. His overall behaviour is reckless, self-destructive and at times borderline sadistic, and shows a penchant for aggressive sexual domination at least twice throughout the film. He seduces Louise's flatmate, Sophie, simply because he can, but soon gets tired of her and embarks on an extended latter-day odyssey among the destitute and despairing of the United Kingdom's capital city.
During his encounters in London's seedy underbelly, Johnny expounds his world-view at long and lyrical length to anyone who will listen, whether Archie, a Scottish boy yelling "Maggie!" at the top of his voice he comes across in Brewer Street, or Brian, a security guard of acres of empty space, 'a post-Modernist gas chamber', whom Johnny marks down as having, 'the most tedious job in England'. All the while, the sinister presence of his ex-girlfriend's psychopathic landlord, Sebastian Hawks (aka Jeremy G Smart), lurks in the background. Johnny eventually suffers horribly at the hands of thugs in the most casual manner; and when the primary tenant of the flat, Sandra, returns from a trip overseas, Johnny is compelled to leave, to throw himself back into the world as he has ostensibly done so many times before.
...
Wikipedia