Twenty seven year old Johnny (David Thewlis) is a man who is fed up with the socio-economic policies of Thatcher's England and he's hard pressed not to dwell on all of the very obvious flaws that, to him, are responsible for a lot of misery in a lot of different peoples' lives. His frustration is so all encompassing that he has a very regular tendency to take it out on people who he happens to come into contact with, whether he intends it to happen or not. After he has what he considers to be very rough sex with a girl (who in turns claims it was rape), he's forced to get out of Manchester and go into hiding in London where he shacks up at the apartment of Louise (Leslie Sharpe), an ex-girlfriend of his from a few years ago.

Rather than acknowledge Louise for her hospitality and thank her for helping him out of a tough situation, Johnny's politics cause him to lash out at even her, for working what he considers within the system. He sees her now not as a regular person but as part of the dreaded upper class who he holds in such ill regard. Johnny's superiority complex becomes readily apparent to Louise once this happens, and he shows no promise of even attempting to hide it in order to avoid future problems stemming from it. Johnny is able to take some solace in the arms of Louise's roommate, Sophie (Katrine Cartlidge), who at least shares some of the same frustrations with society as he does. She also happens to have a rather serious drug problem. The more their relationship develops the more obvious it becomes that Sophie is starved for attention. Perhaps clueing into this, Johnny finds he's able to give it to her but at the same time, he uses her as a bit of a scapegoat and a punching bag to let out his aggression. He's simply using her, and she's letting him.

Eventually Johnny loses all interest in both Sophie and Louise and he leaves their apartment, choosing instead to wander the streets of London on his own. He meets and befriends a watchman named Brian (Peter Wright) who, remarkably enough, he's able to get along with, and he also runs into a strange Scottish man named Archie (Ewan Bremner). While he's out wandering around the city, Sophie and Louise have to deal with their landlord and his misogynist ways, who makes his way into their apartment that isn't really theirs at all, and has his way with poor Sophie. It all leads up to a particularly earthy conclusion and it's interesting to see how their lives all intertwine.

Naked is, in short, a very intense and some might say a very mean spirited film. Johnny is a right bastard through and through and the utter contempt that he shows for almost everyone that he comes into contact with can be a bit hard to wrap your head around at times. He's a bit of a drifter and a social outcast but his behavior makes him so completely unsympathetic that it's hard to see him as anything but alienated from everyone else and at times it almost seems like he relishes wallowing in his own misery. David Thewlis does an absolutely amazing job of bringing this despicable character to life in a performance that won him the Best Actor award at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival (Leigh also took home Best Director that year). The strength, power, and realism of his disturbingly natural performance carries the film and in the hands of a lesser performer, the film could very well have flopped. The film isn't completely Thewlis' show, however, as the rest of the cast all turn in admirable performances as well, especially Leslie Sharpe and Katrin Cartlidge, both of whom struggle to maintain their respective relationships with Johnny. The interplay between the three central characters is an important dynamic in this film which the bulk of the story hinges on and all three parties deliver.

Leigh, wisely in this case, relies upon his performers to let the story flow naturally rather than on a heavy handed and tightly wound script. This loose format allows his characters to develop right alongside those who portray them and this method could very well be a large part of the reason why these characters seem so realistic. Leigh's camera doesn't point the finger at Johnny, which makes this at times difficult content as he really isn't called out for his obviously half insane behavior. The fact that he has a penchant for hurting his partners intentionally during intercourse will hardly endear him to the audience but again, Leigh lets us watch and make up our own minds about him rather than force feed us his own personal politics through Johnny's words and actions.

In the end, Naked is exactly that – it doesn't cover itself up or disguise itself at all, it simply portrays a side of humanity that many of us would rather not consider at all and it grabs our attention with its base and primal display of emotions, however misguided some of them may be. As horrible as some of the people are in this film, Johnny in particular, Leigh's film never loses sight of the fact that they are human beings. It's a very dark, very ugly film but one that contains such a powerful lead performance and is directed in such an interesting, if at times very simple, manner that you can't help but appreciate the skill that went into making it. Not everyone will be comfortable with the subject matter as it does get pretty grim at times, but there's no denying how expertly some of the very talented people behind the project have done their jobs and it's not a film that you'll soon forget.

The DVD

Video:

Criterion has done a great job of cleaning up Naked to the point where it looks exceptionally good, yet still maintains that gritty look and feel that is so important to the film itself. Aside from some film grain, there aren't any noticeable defects with the image in terms of dirt or print damage and the picture is quite clean in that regard. The black levels stay strong and very deep but don't end up burying anything and the level of both foreground and background detail present in this transfer is very revealing. Contrast levels are set dead on, color definition is strong, the red levels don't bleed at all and skin tones look lifelike and natural throughout the movie. There is some very, very mild line shimmering noticeable on occasion but other than that this is an exceptionally good 1.851. anamorphic widescreen transfer that does justice to the strong cinematography that the film makes such excellent use of.