Naked (1993)

	Directed by: Mike Leigh	COUNTRY United Kingdom GENRE Drama/Black comedy NORWEGIAN TITLE Naken RUNNING TIME 131 minutes
	Produced by: Simon Channing Williams
	Written by: Mike Leigh

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Johnny Fletcher	David Thewlis	½
Louise Clancy	Lesley Sharp
Sophie	Katrin Cartlidge
Jeremy G. Smart / Sebastian Hawk	Greg Cruttwell
Sandra the nurse	Claire Skinner
Brian, the security guard	Peter Wight	½
Archie, the Scotsman with a tic	Even Bremner
Maggie	Susan Vidler	-
The Cafe Girl	Gina McKee
Giselle	Elizabeth Berrington	-

Review

This was the movie which put Mike Leigh on the map internationally, with his first BAFTA nomination as well as the best director award and a nomination for Palme d'Or at Cannes, and even 30 years after its release it's still easy to see why. On one level, Naked is a social commentary about the hopelessness of young adults in urban areas of the United Kingdom around this time. On another level, it's a film which creates its own universe and spins an extraordinary parable of carnality, nihilism and aimlessness circled around Johnny Fletcher (David Thewlis), one of the most idiosyncratic characters in film history. He beguiles you with his haphazard intellectualism and repulses you with his selfish ill-treatment of others, particularly women. Johnny may well be both part of the problem and part of the answer, claims Leigh. And perhaps we shall all be grateful that there are hopeless romantics like his ex-girlfriend Louise (Lesley Sharp) who are prepared to give him another chance. We all might need it one day.