Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
In Mike Leigh’s Naked (1993), Johnny (David Thewlis) is a character so despicably likeable that it becomes too easy to dismiss the character, and the rest of the film, with simple sweeping negations. Calling the film, or the character, misogynistic might create an easy mask for one’s own enjoyment of the film rather than aptly describe it. Without belaboring the point for long, the misogynistic label is more apt for those Hollywood rom-coms that rely on the female character to find a man to fulfill her needs or desires. Depiction and intent are not the same thing.
Naked
isnt’ a misogynistic film. It does, however, deal with the situations of women who don’t hold an equal footing in society. They are not treated well by the two primary male characters, Johnny and Sebastian (who is also called Jeremy). The brutality, however difficult it is to watch, is true to their positions in this world. The film makes this clear from the opening scene, leaving enough ambiguity about the action taking place without telling the viewer if it is right or wrong.
Johnny functions as a mirror, showing people how they are victims of a world that has no compassion for their plights. This plays out through Johnny physically and verbally. Even when Johnny himself becomes a victim, he knows it’s just part of the cycle. As Johnny himself says in the film, he fled Manchester to avoid a beating and got one in London instead. As much as he can’t avoid what’s coming to him, he gets it anyway. This, viewer, is what you have coming to you. Continue reading >
Everyone has a breaking point. Even a two-hundred-foot tall creature that I won’t describe as Godzilla-like. Instead, I will use the description of the film‘s Capt. Parker, played so eloquently by Mr. Briant Wells: “Compared to this guy, Godzilla is a pussy.” This creature, who is named Yonggary (pronounced “young Gary”) and was awakened from a 200-million-year nap, is intent on destroying the world. But Yonggary, despite his fire-breathing ways, decides to do something no other gigantic film monster (King Kong wasn’t a monster!) has ever done in film history. He has a change of heart.
Yonggary is not sure what to make of these people
The reason for Yonggary’s soul-searching belies his own attackers. Such a weak effort is thrown together by the United National Defense Agency (UNDA, more on them later) that Yonggary develops a sense of pity for humankind. He cannot bear to cause them any further pain and suffering because they seem to be doing such a fine job of it themselves. Or, better yet, this may be the first case of a CGI creature that senses the film’s directing, acting, set design, writing, etc., is so horrific that he doesn’t stick to the script.
Continue reading >
