16th Hall of Fame

This is my second time viewing Naked, and my fondness for it has expectedly increased. Why would it not, when its screenplay is overflowed with rich material, from the witty back and forth dialogue, to the nihilistic and philosophical rants. My interest and fascination of the main character Johnny, also keeps increasing as I think more about the film. He is a confused, self loathing, walking dead man, who believes mankind will cease to exist by the year 1999. He bombards whoever he encounters with his loud prophesy theories, and his only care is to fulfil his animalistic desires, before this apocalypse comes. However, I think his beliefs are only there as an excuse and a façade, that protects and gives him enough slack for his uncontrollable behaviour, so he doesn't hate himself even more than he already does. On the other side of the coin, there's Sebastian, who has completely accepted and embraced his urges, and definitely needs no cover-up story to feel less bad about his actions. He is an unsuppressed Johnny.

Huge credits need to be given to David Thewlis, for his brutal and unapologetic performance, in fact, the entirety of the cast is terrific. The stalking score is terrific too, as it follows Johnny wherever he goes, without tiring, and without us getting tired of it either. The dry comedic aspects work so well, and compliment the bleak world the characters live in. The streets of the apocalyptic London might as well be a character too, as one can feel dread just by walking through them. All of the latter comes together, to deliver us a peek at the life of a wandering man, who's constantly at war with his own existence. Such a great watch this was, and it has actually pushed me to go on my own Mike Leigh marathon.

I don't think I can seriously refer to the featured characters in this movie as "characters", when all I see is real people with real life problems. This is not only due to Ceylan's unique and minimalistic writing style, but also the reserved yet powerful performances, especially by Hatice Aslan, who flawlessly embodies the type of woman she's playing. One can clearly see through Hatice's fearful face, the conflict between her true desires and societal role. The war between her femininity and motherhood. How can the Turkish woman give herself up to lust, destroy the structure of her family, knowing the societal consequences she can face. What drives Hacer to her unarguably wrong act, could be her sexual insatisfaction, her hidden loath for her husband, the chains around her tightened up by society, or the wreckage of the family's haunting past. Whatever it is, it leads to a game of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, filled with emptiness.

All of Ceylan's films are shot beautifully, and if that isn't enough, the cinematography also matches the tone of the events, and amplifies the intensity of the atmosphere. In Three Monkeys, the colour palette increases the grimness of the air, giving off an ugly and sweaty look, while still maintaining the mastery and class of the cinematography. The impeccable sound design also aids at emphasizing the bleak mood, with each passing train, lightning strike, knock on door, foot step, or water drop, we're engrossed by these sounds regardless of their volume. I should also mention that the editing sometimes is particularly impressive too, with its clever transitions. All around, the craftsmanship displayed not only in this feature, but throughout all of Ceylan's filmography, definitely ranks him among the best directors working today.

My only substantial problem with the film, would be how a certain scene was handled. It's the last meet-up between Hacer and the politician, where we can distinctly hear their conversation, despite them being significantly far away from the camera. This wouldn't be as big of an issue to me, if I didn't think that a better decision would be to let the audio play out realistically, which I believe would of stuck true to the overall tone. Nonetheless, the sequence still manages to be powerful because of the performances and the cinematography.