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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Mike Leigh's Naked" )

 

directed by Mike Leigh
UK 1993

 

The brilliant and controversial Naked, from director Mike Leigh, stars David Thewlis as Johnny, a charming and eloquent but relentlessly vicious drifter. Rejecting anyone who might care for him, the volcanic Johnny hurls himself around London on a nocturnal odyssey, colliding with a succession of other desperate and dispossessed people and scorching everyone in his path. With a virtuoso script and raw performances from Thewlis and costars Katrin Cartlidge and Lesley Sharp, Leigh’s depiction of England’s underbelly is an amalgam of black comedy and doomsday prophecy that took the best director and best actor prizes at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.

***

Naked is the angriest, most bitterly critical attack on the false values of society that Mike Leigh, Britain’s constant chronicler of the tragic comedy of desperate lives, has ever made. Its audacity is that the attack is mounted through a central character of whom few would approve. Johnny (David Thewlis) is, in fact, a classic antihero, who blasts away at the hypocrisy inherent in the Britain of the immediate post-Thatcher era much like a latter-day version of John Osborne’s Jimmy Porter. Yet such is the power of the film that Leigh is also able to include, without in any way seeming to placate his audience, moments of compassion, gentleness, and humor, which prevent Naked from seeming merely a bilious, if gloriously eloquent, rant. It is not just that. In fact, it is one of the greatest, most memorable, if decidedly uncomfortable, British films not only of its decade but of the entire second half of the twentieth century.

Excerpt from Derek Malcolm's included essay.

Posters

Theatrical Release: September 14, 1993 (Toronto Film Festival)

Reviews        More Reviews       DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Criterion Collection - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Criterion -  Region 1 - NTSC LEFT vs. Criterion Region 'A' - Blu-ray RIGHT

Box Cover

Coming to Blu-ray in the UK by BFI in November 2021:

Distribution

Criterion Collection - Spine # 307

Region 1 - NTSC

Criterion Collection, spine #307 - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime 2:11:32 2:11:47.608
Video

1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 7.60 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 46,212,909,651 bytes

Feature: 35,716,528,128 bytes

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 31.99 Mbps

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate

Bitrate Blu-ray

Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (mono) DTS-HD Master Audio English 2057 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2057 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles English, none English, none
Features Release Information:
Studio: Criterion Collection

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.85:1

Edition Details:
• Disc 1 -
• Audio Commentary by Leigh and actors David Thewlis and Katrin Cartlidge
• Original Theatrical Trailer

• Disc 2 -
• Exclusive new video interview with director Neil LaBute
• The Art Zone: 'The Conversation', a BBC program featuring author WIll Self interviewing Mike Leigh
• The Short and Curlies, a 1987 short comedy directed by Leigh and starring Thewlis
• Plus a booklet containing new essays by film critics Derek Malcolm and Amy Taubin

DVD Release Date: September 20, 2005
Double-disc Keepcase

Chapters 43

Release Information:
Studio: Criterion Collection

 

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 46,212,909,651 bytes

Feature: 35,716,528,128 bytes

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 31.99 Mbps

 

Edition Details:
• Audio Commentary by Leigh and actors David Thewlis and Katrin Cartlidge
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Exclusive new video interview with director Neil LaBute
• The Art Zone: 'The Conversation', a BBC program featuring author WIll Self interviewing Mike Leigh
• The Short and Curlies, a 1987 short comedy directed by Leigh and starring Thewlis
• Plus a booklet containing new essays by film critics Derek Malcolm and Amy Taubin

Blu-ray Release Date: July 12th, 2011
Transparent Blu-ray Case

Chapters 43

 

Comments

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - June 11': The Blu-ray improves in the expected areas making it look much more film-like with grain textures, depth and advanced detail - notable in close-ups. The DVD was fine for its time but comparatively it looks flat and video-like beside the 1080P transfer. Flesh tones gain their true hues - cooling off - and although I wouldn't say one area of visual superiority is clearly evident - all of the subtle improvements together really lift this film experience significantly higher. Naked hits you on a gut-level and the HD presentation brings that home with more devastating impact. A few pints during viewing adds to the experience.

While still front-channel dominant the new DTS-HD Master stereo at 2057 kbps has some depth that wasn't present on the DVD. It is minor but still an improvement notable in a few scenes. The Blu-ray also has optional English subtitles if the dialogue accents are too thick for some. Predictably it is region 'A'-locked.

Same extras - same excellent commentary, interviews and 'short' but now in HD and all on one disc. The liner notes booklet is still accessible in the package.

Naked is the kind of film I re-watch fairly frequently and one that a good friend is practically obsessed over. The dialogue is some of the most inventive you are likely to find and the performances are amazingly real. See it on Blu-ray was as close as theatrical as we are likely to ever get. This is a film you definitely want in your BD library. Strongly recommended!

Gary W. Tooze

***

ON THE DVD: This is a no brainer. A must own DVD of a very important film. The image is very sharp and balanced - not surprising for a near superbit quality transfer. I have nothing but good things to say about the transfer and the source print. Audio is only two channel (original) but is every bit as clean as the image.

The commentary, trailer and the short film, The Short and Curlies, are holdovers from the original Criterion laserdisc. The rest of the supplements are new including a video interview with Neil LaBute done exclusively for this release. Another standard setting DVD from the folks at Criterion. Our highest recommendation.

 - Gregg Ferencz


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Criterion -  Region 1 - NTSC LEFT vs. Criterion Region 'A' - Blu-ray RIGHT
 

 


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Screen Captures

 

Criterion -  Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
 


Criterion -  Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


Criterion -  Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


Criterion -  Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


Criterion -  Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Criterion Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


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More Blu-ray Captures

 

 


Box Cover

Coming to Blu-ray in the UK by BFI in November 2021:

Distribution

Criterion Collection - Spine # 307

Region 1 - NTSC

Criterion Collection, spine #307 - Region 'A' - Blu-ray




 

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