Naked

The Sunday Age

Sunday July 20, 2008

Iain McKay

Naked

1993 (R, 131 mins) Hopscotch

4/5

When we first meet Johnny (David Thewlis), he's raping a woman under a Manchester canal bridge. A nasty piece of work, Johnny's morbid disenchantment with life expresses itself through searing sarcasm and long, complicated tirades about the Book of Revelations and the predictions of Nostradamus. Fleeing to London, he lobs onto an old girlfriend, has sex with her flatmate and spends time wandering the cold London streets, physically and morally adrift among a series of wounded and desperate characters who merely confirm his warped world view. Though director Mike Leigh manages to imbue it with his characteristic humour, this is by far his most challenging film and a bitter swipe at a society in terminal decline.