Naked (2005)

With lunatic swagger and gonzo jive, David Thewlis explores the dark pits of nocturnal London with its manic street preachers, sexual deviants, and drugged-up drifters in Naked. Director Mike Leigh takes the angry- young-man ideal and makes him something truly virulent in this starkly nightmarish odyssey.

EXTRAS In the commentary by Leigh and cast, the director, who also wrote the story, nonetheless persists in asking his actors about their characters' fates. A 1987 short romantic comedy called ''The Short and Curlies,'' also directed by Leigh and starring a baby-faced Thewlis, provides a bubbly contrast to the main event. And in an interview, Leigh explores the genesis of his unique characters, from his intimate connection with actors to his tendency toward nosiness. ''Don't leave your letters lying around if I'm in your house,'' he warns.

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