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North_Londoner
Reviews
Naked (1993)
Whimsical nonsense
This has been held up as a classic yet remove all the reviews from your mind and that status isn't justified by what's on show.
All the characters have a slightly cartoon-like quality and all exist through modes of discourse which seem far removed from real life. Being as he's the central protagonist, Johnny would be the most natural character to root for however Leigh seems a bit caught up in giving him dialogue which, while it may seem profound on a first listen, is actually just nonsense.
The background music and artfully coloured shots of Thewliss show a film straining for gravitas that never comes. Instead we get a series of encounters with more cartoon characters for Thewliss to spout nonsense at.
This film has a few plus points, it's certainly refreshing to see a different London from Richard Curtis's, however it also shows Leigh as falling too easily into the trap of whimsy - as Career Girls would a few years later.
A much better film about London 'grifting' is Ken Loache's 'Riff Raff'.
I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967)
Flawed nostalgia piece
Pretty poor film in terms of plot and structure but interesting as a glimpse of a long gone London and for some lovely footage of Cambridge.
Also worth casting your eye over the cast, Welles looking bloated and unwell, Reed's striking looks somewhat dented by the facial scarring as a result of a 1963 bar fight and Carol White youthful and beautiful before her succumbing in following years to substance addiction. Michael Winner makes one his final Brit films before moving to Hollywood and it's certainly no classic, kind of a 'Garden State' of its day - episodic but contrived and laboured.
However, England looks good and the 60s do look pretty swinging.