Naked Review

Naked is a 2020 short film written, directed, and produced by Dianna Ippolito.

A loving tribute that gives us a peak into the fractured life of Marilyn Monroe, Naked delivers a solid albeit short vignette into this world.

Trying to put to film the life of any celebrity is a hard enough task, but condensing that into a short film, even more so. While not a flawless film, there is still an obvious reverence for delving into the true nature of Monroe with this piece.

This is of course an homage to the technicolor films that Marilyn herself occupied in most of her career, but given the digital filming techniques used here, the pushing of saturation does not work as the same process on the old film stocks of yesteryear could achieve. Instead, it creates a bit of digital noise to the images that don’t take away from the story but are noticeable from a technical eye.

The stand out moments for the piece have to be the brief scenes filmed at the beach. The lighting is just perfect and makes for a strong opening and closing to the film. One would almost ask to see more of these moments, but the small portions that are seen are well executed.

As someone who is criminally unfamiliar with most of Monroe’s work and life, it is very obvious a lot of research went into this short. Of course, the most well-known nod being to that of the affair with John F. Kennedy, which is touched on throughout.

Overall, this is a well-done film that any lover of Marilyn Monroe will enjoy. Jocelyn Saenz does a superb job portraying Monroe in a nuanced way and the writing shows clear respect for her life.

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Cheers!

Daniel Hess

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