Naked

Name: Naked
Genre: Drama
Released: December 15, 1993
Duration: 131 min
Rating: 85
Cast: David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp

1993

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 21 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 40 Ratings

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8.3

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8.3	User Score Universal acclaim based on 40 Ratings

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Naked

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Movie Details & Credits

Fine Line Features | Release Date: December 15, 1993 | Unrated

Starring: David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp

Summary: Johnny (David Thewlis) flees Manchester for London. There he finds an old girlfriend, and spends some time homeless, ranting at strangers, and meeting characters in plights very much like his own.

Director: Mike Leigh

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Unrated

Runtime: 131 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

This is a movie of virtuoso nihilism and scorn. Read full review

100

Jay Carr

Naked is one of the most scorchingly compelling films in years, Mike Leigh's masterpiece, an unflinching vision of civilization in retreat, life as apocalypse. [4 Mar. 1994, p.51]

100

David Ansen

Mike Leigh's stunning, corrosive Naked is one of the best movies of the year, and one of the toughest... Its manic mix of tenderness and degradation, hilarity and scariness, keeps you dangerously off balance. Read full review

Empire Kim Newman

Mike Leigh sees a Britain everybody knows exists but would rather not think about, and this is a nightmare journey, at once horrific and funny, through a twilight London of the excluded and the rejected. Read full review

Derek Elley

Leigh’s gallery of haves and have-nots, of emotional anorexics and exploited deadbeats, carries a strong political charge that’s there for the taking. But the pic also plays simply as a black, offbeat comedy with a romantic undertow. Read full review

Carrie Rickey

Like Johnny's rants, Naked is a revelation, a parable of spiritual homelessness and the terror it engenders. Read full review

David Baron

Mike Leigh's awesomely overpraised Naked is that one-in-a-hundred mediocre movie that contains a genuinely compelling performance. [4 Mar. 1994, p.L27]

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User Reviews

JLuis_001

Oct 30, 2022

Although it doesn't look like it, Naked is a chaotic film. Chaotic not in the sense of disorder, but in the sense of anxiety and suffocation.
David Thewlis is nothing short of spectacular. All the praise for this performance of his is finally understood, while Mike Leigh's direction is soAlthough it doesn't look like it, Naked is a chaotic film. Chaotic not in the sense of disorder, but in the sense of anxiety and suffocation.
David Thewlis is nothing short of spectacular. All the praise for this performance of his is finally understood, while Mike Leigh's direction is so sharp it cuts deep.

Most impressive of all is that it's not about caring or empathizing with the characters. It's just a recreation of a reality, of a time and a place. And even though it was made almost 3 decades ago, the moral rot that it exposes would apply perfectly in any place and in any current era.

What an impressive film.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MattBrady99

May 27, 2019

"I used to be a werewolf, but I'm all right ****

Imagine 'A Clockwork Orange', but if Mike Leigh directed it. David Thewlis performance as Johnny is absolutely mind blowing and pure genius. One of the all time best. A despicable, yet care-free man that uses his intelligence to distracts"I used to be a werewolf, but I'm all right ****

Imagine 'A Clockwork Orange', but if Mike Leigh directed it.

David Thewlis performance as Johnny is absolutely mind blowing and pure genius. One of the all time best. A despicable, yet care-free man that uses his intelligence to distracts you from how rotten he truly is.

'Naked' doesn't shy away from presenting it's razor-sharp commentary on assault and rape, but will be hard for some to stomach. The script is fantastic with two stellar performances from Lesley Sharp and Katrin Cartlidge, and Leigh finest work.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

filipipmelo

Jul 28, 2019

A Delightful Philosophic Medley.

"Do you think that the amoeba ever dreamed that It would evolve into the frog? Of course it didn’t. And when that first frog shimmied out of the water and employed its vocal cords in order to attract a mate or to retard a predator; do you think that thatA Delightful Philosophic Medley.

"Do you think that the amoeba ever dreamed that It would evolve into the frog? Of course it didn’t. And when that first frog shimmied out of the water and employed its vocal cords in order to attract a mate or to retard a predator; do you think that that frog ever imagined that that incipient croak would evolve into all the languages of the world, into all the literature of the world? Of course it **** didn’t. And just as that froggy could never possibly have conceived of Shakespeare so we can never possibly imagine our destiny".… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

carlossolrac

Nov 14, 2018

A movie that feels like the end of the hourglass is here and night will never end.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

amheretojudge

Jun 20, 2019

No matter how much work you put into it, Thewlis has a magnetic personality, you'll be drawn unwillingly.

Naked Leigh is challenging himself. Starting the film with such a heinous act, he is primarily challenging himself rather than setting the tone of what you should prepare yourself of.No matter how much work you put into it, Thewlis has a magnetic personality, you'll be drawn unwillingly.

Naked

Leigh is challenging himself. Starting the film with such a heinous act, he is primarily challenging himself rather than setting the tone of what you should prepare yourself of. The writer-director, Mike Leigh has a daunting task then, to keep us engaged and involved in characters that doesn't particularly speak with the common audience. There is very little space for him to wander here and there. The reasoning or justification might come off as a pretentious act. But Leigh is a clever chap. His film isn't obsessed with convincing you to follow or root for, in fact, any of the characters. He just wants you to observe them from a distance. And maybe, that is why at their most vulnerable state only, he decides to show us a close up.

While the rest of the time along with distance, the surrounding or environment too is mapped for us to not fall into them. The film actually deals with plenty of themes, considering the fact that David Thewlis literally goes door to door, knocking some philosophical debates into others. But the endorsement strategy states it to stage the primary physical theme up front. And even though for the most part of the time the conversations are debates, as mentioned, they are often a part of distraction. Look, how there is background score while Thewlis spews his views and how unfinished most of the sentences are.

The real target lies in the physical sequences. The way he walks, behaves, switches back and forth, reserves, embraces and in the end, even releases his emotional issues in an almost panic attack. The writing and execution is, of course, sharp and mature, but it is the performance, the conviction in them, that puts it all over the top and still balanced. Naked has the natural state of the least "normal" routine you could think of, and yet they are humans.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

bataguila

Sep 5, 2019

Un asco, historias tontas, y todos muy promiscuos. me gusta el machismo y lo toxico de los protagonistas. Si actua muy bien el protagonista.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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