Férfiakt

It's not everyday that Hungary produces gay films, so when they do, you most certainly pay attention. Despite the name, Men in the Nude is not just about gay men; it's about the places we find ourselves in life and how we never know how we'll deal with them until we're put there. It's about thinking you know yourself, when really you don't know yourself at all. The story itself is the true gem of this movie, however, with mesmerizing visuals and unapologetic love scenes, Men in the Nude is a triumph for Hungarian Cinema. A roller-coaster ride of emotions and twisting plots, this movie will have your head spinning until the very end. Excellent acting, amazing direction and fantastic writing. Well done Hungary!

A wonderfully plotted and acted "true-life" love story. This is not politically correct, gay propaganda. This movie is intelligent and literate and sincere in a way that US movies rarely are. Alas, the title is misleading; there are no post-rugby shower scenes. Plus, the video quality is poor. But, worth watching and feeling and thinking about. The younger of the male lovers is briefly almost naked; neither is ever nude. The elder's wife is sympathetic, not jealous. What is authentic and naked about both men are their emotions. This is a brilliant, beautiful story about the attraction of a married middle-aged man for some one 30 years younger. It is the younger who is the "aggressor", and the older guy who musty deal with his ambivalence. It is the sincerity of the younger guy that is inn question. I am Doctor Whom.

According to this extremely offensive movie, sex between two men is always brutally clumsy and compulsive, never tender or romantic, always performed with one man fully clothed and on a desk or other piece of hard furniture, even if there's a bed in the next room. They may talk about love, but they act like they hate each other.

In this supposedly gay movie, the only graphic sex is heterosexual—and there are not one but TWO lushly sensual sex scenes between a man and a woman, both in bed—to emphasize, I suppose, how much better hetero sex is than gay sex. Men can only grope and assault each other, but men caress women.

This is shockingly offensive homophobia, it pervades every scene in this horrible movie, and I hate it with every cell in my gay male body.

By the way (as if it could get even worse), the English title ("Men in the Nude") is a lie. You won't see any more male nudity than is on the cover of the DVD. You'll see lots of female breasts, but nothing male below the waist.

This film is extraordinary, and easy perhaps to dislike but its images linger for a long time in the mind after seeing it. David Szabo is not quite as convincing as the avenging angel of love that he appears to be, but he is watchable and almost believable. The story is simple; a married man meets a youth, and despite the growing passion the man feels, he watches as his life crumbles around him, because of this youth's invasion upon his 'secure' heterosexuality and the intense erotic feelings it provokes. More symbolic perhaps than real the film explores the dissolution of love both in the hetero and homosexual acts it portrays, and the man, being a published writer, loses his bearings creatively. Thomas Mann and 'Death in Venice' plus Mahler's unfinished 10th Symphony are used in the film, and the soundtrack is amazing. This leads in my opinion to a further meaning of the film which I believe is implicitly there; the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the arguably inward looking nature of the Hungarians afterwards. The final image of an empty red room, and no spoilers as to why, showed to me a finality to love and the void, hellish, that the man is trapped in. As for homophobia I am not convinced. The eroticism of male on male, and female on male sexuality is shown more as an assault on feeling than a value judgement. The direction and photography is superb and my only reservation at not giving it a full 10 is that it is profoundly pessimistic, and profoundly disturbing. I also believe it holds up a mirror to Hungary's history, and as in a crazy funfair it distorts and plays unhealthy games with the mind. As for the English title for the film it is absurd; nudity there is but more of the psyche than the flesh. I urge viewers to track it down, as it is a film that stands alone. Cross that frontier into it with an open mind.

This was my first Hungarian film to watch. First impressions are lasting impression as the saying goes. Fortunately, the lasting impression for me is excellence in acting and script writing.

The characters did not overplay their roles but brought each character to the realization of what happens in real life. One can be on top of the world and the next moment, without warning, grabbing for mental stability.

Along with the concept of what can happen unexpectedly in life, the lighting of the film depicts the bright and dark side of unexpected surprises in life.

A must watch for anyone who has been through the perils of life and caught off guard.