Ace in the Hole - MatthewHunt

Naked
(Mike Leigh, 1993)
Disturbing study of misanthropy and misogyny in early 90s Britain. Brimming with bilious
intelligence, David Thewlis gives the performance of his career as a mouthy Manc who turns
up in London looking for an old girlfriend. His wanderings through the city's underbelly offer a
bleak vision of inner-city decay and alienation.
The Naked Gun
(David Zucker, 1988)
The gag-packed style of David Zucker and his writing partner Jim Abrahams first entered
moviegoers' consciousness with their classic sketch-film Kentuck Fried Movie. The Naked
Gun is a zany cop romp, dependent on the deadpan style of Zucker/Abrahams stalwart Leslie
Nielsen, as incompetent lawman Lt Frank Drebin.
The Nanny
(Seth Holt, 1965)
One of Hammer's less blood-soaked productions, The Nanny was perhaps its most
psychologically effective, a creepy monochrome thriller casting Bette Davis against type as a
family nanny who may or may not have a psychopathic bent. Davis plays the ambiguity to
perfection, feeding from the paranoia of both the viewer and her accusing young charge to
create an atmospheric and queasy study of trust.
Nanook of the North
(Robert J Flaherty, 1922)
Yes, Robert Flaherty may have cheated: making fly-on-the-wall documentaries about Inuit
hunters in the 1920s wasn't easy. Still, even if some scenes are staged, this is a remarkable
achievement which shows the harshness and beauty of Nanook's Arctic life. Nanook died of
starvation not long after the film was made.
Napoleon
(Abel Gance, 1927)
What can Abel Gance do with the camera next? Put it in a snowball - or make it three in one
of his delirious triptych effects? This is history written in black-and-white lightning, a film as
much in love with its medium as with its solemn, diminutive hero. Restored in the 80s, with
Carl Davis music, it's close to opera.
Nashville
(Robert Altman, 1975)
This knits together the lives of 24 characters as they gather for a music festival and a political
assassination. All the Altman trademarks are here: overlapping dialogue, a crazy cast of
egomaniacs and broken-winged birds, the cynicism, great music. "We must be doing
something right to last 200 years..." Altman begs to differ.
Near Dark
(Kathryn Bigelow, 1987)
The vampire myth is relocated to the American south-west and mixed with the hormonallyexaggerated
melodrama native to teenage romance. Full of gory sight gags, this is a movie in
which making-out, making curfew and making a good impression with your girlfriend's clique
are life-or-death propositions.
Night and the City
(Jules Dassin, 1950)
Dassin, who created a noir classic with his New York-set Naked City, does something similar
for London here, to create a truly original thriller. Richard Widmark plays Harry, the whining
wrestling promoter stalked by local hoods through an underworld that would do the Big Apple
proud: "You're a dead man, Harry Fabian, a dead man."