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Released by: Pathfinder Films/Asterix
Released on: 3/7/2006
Director: T. L. Young
Cast: Athena Demos, Lena Yada, Christine Nguyen, T. L. Young, Lisa Ko, Douglas Dunning
Year: 2004
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The Movie:
After his bad parody of the Amazing Creswell, director T. L. Young introduces his film by stating that although nudism has been explored in many films, it's always been exploitative and more of an excuse to show naked people on screen rather than an objective exploration of why it exists and why people are into it. He goes on to talk about his movie, The Naked Place, and from there we delve into a fictional story in which a woman named Amber (Athena Demos) who runs a nudist resort figures she's got a shot at auditioning for Young's film as, being a nudist herself, she's got the credentials. To prepare for her role she researches the phenomena through some interviews with people involved in the movement and through some film clips. All the while, a librarian played by Douglas Dunning co-narrates the movie with Young and plays some interesting film clips and news casts from nudist websites.
The whole thing is very odd in its premise and in its execution. First and foremost is the fact that the project plays out less like a legitimate documentary (it's a bit too exploitative for that) and more like a commercial for The Naked Place, a film which, to the best of this reviewers knowledge, doesn't actually exist in a finished form. The movie has no problem promoting the fact that it stars Christine Nguyen, who has modelled for Playboy, and while it does try to state that nudism and sex don't have to linked, by using nude models as his subjects Young almost seems to be contradicting himself. The reality of life is that ugly nudists aren't going to sell films but all of the women who get naked in this project are knock-outs, and while I've never been to a nudist camp myself, I'm fairly certain that isn't going to always be the case. The movement seems to be very idealized and yes, at times, sexualized in this movie.
There are some interesting interviews here with people who obviously take what they're doing quite seriously and on that level, parts of the film are pretty interesting but as soon as it heads back into the ficionalized spots that bridge it all together it starts to drag, even if Demos looks great with her shirt off. That being said, the movie also manages to work in some great film clips from early and rarely seen nudist films like This Nude World from 1933 and The Unashamed from 1938, both of which are pretty keen historical filmic oddities. There's also a fairly length interview with an actress (FIND HER NAME) from Doris Wishman's 2001 Satan Was A Lady who states that Wishman liked nudity on film but never showed actual sex, making one wonder if she realized what Wishman's original Satan Was A Lady was all about. Some clips from a few Wishman movies show up in here as does some interesting marketing material like a pressbook for Nude On The Moon, which is kind of neat to see for those who appreciate that type of thing.
In the end though, despite some interviews of worth and a few clips from a nudist news broadcast that apparantly takes place on the internet, Naked In The 21st Century is too disjointed and too conflicting to serve as a good documentary on the subject and the more exploitative elements that it silmutaneously poo-poos and (unintentionally?) revels in aren't enough to save it.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Some of the film clips are beat up but that's to be expected. Seeing as most of this was shot on video there is some softness inherant in the image that you can't really get around and there are some scenes where the lighting seem to wash out the image a bit. Otherwise, this is an acceptable transfer of a movie that probably didn't look all that amazing in the first place considering how it was made and the low budget origins of the whole project.
There are some scenes in this where dialogue is recorded outdoors and the wind hits the microphone causing some distortion but aside from that the 2.0 Stereo track gets the job done. Everything that was narrated or recorded inside sounds alright and while the track won't blow your mind, you should have no trouble following the movie.
You get two featurettes that are in reality extended takes from a couple of scenes in the movie and a handful of deleted scenes that add nothing of worth to the production but that do feature some bonus skin, if that's what you're after. None of this material runs for more than a few minutes. The trailer for the documentary is also included.
The Final Word:
Valuable more for a couple of interesting archival clips and the presence of some pretty naked girls moreso than as an actual documentary, Naked In The 21st Century is an odd and ultimately ineffective documentary that feels lost and disjointed despite some obviously good intentions.