Clinton H. Wallace’s 2011 movie titled “American Nudist” explores neotribalism through body positivity, naturism, abstinence, and nudist expression. It touches profound concepts about life but nevertheless, exaggerating it makes it fall flat. The movie still holds some critical value composition wise and is remarkable in what it attempts to portray. This is a critique on American Nudist with extra focus on its motives.
Plot
Taylor Kong is played by Tony T. Young, a recorder turned photographer which intersects with nudism and finishes the movie off with Angela and Alicia, who are harsh critics of classical beauty ideals. With extreme recoil and indifference from him at first, exploring nudism seems instituting to a Kong. From there, the self growth starts appearing from the character progressively as he spends time understanding the value of nudity and body acceptance.
Many scenes of the movie American Nudist touch on Taylor’s art career struggle intertwined with his love life as much as it wishes to eliminate stigma related to nudity or advocate naturism as a way of life. As Taylor becomes more and more engrossed in the naturist society, not only does he have to face his prejudice but also bigger issues regarding selflove, relationships and being true to oneself.
Themes
“American Nudist” attempts to address a number of themes at once but its presentation of the themes in most instances is embarrassing.
Body Positivity
The movie addresses the more destructive self image issues that society tends to inflict upon the masses. That all bodies are beautiful and attending naturist events encourages people to embrace their bodies rather than hide them because nakedness is considered a sin. But all this gets lost in banal narration and unrealistic character development.
Nudity vs. Sexuality
Nudity is not synonymous with sex, this is one of the central points of the film, as is the case with the naturist ideology. Nakedness shouldn’t be considered deviant, and is an extension of landscape and not a tool of sexualised this was a point many naturists advocated for in this captivating movie. Although the film says a bit about it, at times it crosses the border while looking for nakedness sensationalism, which in turn spoils the essence completely.
Art and Freedom
In Doug close’s naturism, Taylor feels there is a zenith he can reach where both art and naturism are comparable in terms of commitment with both of them needing courage to go against the norms of society. adUnfortunately, the movie isn’t able to make the most out of these comparisons considering this particular theme is largely unexplored.
Cast & Crew
- Tony T L Young as Taylor Kong,
- Alicia Arden as Angela,
- Magda Marcella as Jennifer,
- Clinton H Wallace as Wilson,
- Tiffany Bowyer as Muse,
- Martin Harris as Taylor’s European Alter Ego
This flick was directed by Clinton H. Wallace who was also a producer of the movie along with three other companies. As Wallace is diverse in the field of filmmaking, he sought out to develop a movie which would not only interest people to watch it but also broaden their perspectives on naturism. Wallace’s restriction on budget left the movie in slightly above mediocre state.
Production
Like most of the moves today, ‘American Nudist’ set out their production costs to aprox 100,000 dollars. Because of the low cost, the movie’s quality was compromised. California was the state where the movie was filmed and during the course of the filming the key objective was to capture the awe and beauty that surrounded naturists. However, sad to say the cinematography and editing of the movie are the key aspects that fail to draw the viewer into the plot.
The film’s promotional material portrayed it as a deeply engaging story but, to many, it came off as more of a voyeuristic practice rather than a means of educating a viewer. And this difference between purpose and implementation would explain the relatively dull feedback towards the film.
Critical and Audiences Review
“American Nudist” has come under severe fire from both critics and the masses. Currently holding a 3.7 rating of 10 on IMDb, it portrays a consensus of dislike for the narrative, screenplay and decency of the movie.
Critics Viewpoint
As per some critics, the film tends to struggle with tying its various themes together and finds it hard to convey the reason behind their combination. Adding to this, the dialogues seem shallow and loose while the acting was highly criticized for being incoherent as well. As most reviews suggest, the premise of naturism that the movie was trying to highlight served more as a gimmick rather a serious topic.
Reactions From Viewers
Certain members of audience have shared the same view and suggest the film could have better animated naturism. Others said the adaptation was too cliche as well. On the other hand, there is a smaller portion of viewers that find the nudity in the movie to possess some artistic meaning and makes a great point about body acceptance.
Key Issues
The critical argument against “American Nudist” is that it fails to provide entertainment while at the same time being educational. If anything, the film feels like an outrage because it tries to promote a naturist life while being overly dramatic. Not only does the film lack a strong narrative, but it also has poor acting and mediocre filming quality.
American Nudist’s attempt on how to market itself by means of titles and post keys have the worst capture and sends the wrong message. Instead of being perceived as a serious drama with philosophical aspects, viewers mistook it for an erotic or pornographic movie.
Availability
For those interested in Indie Films, Quadrone’s “American Nudist” is perhaps worth checking out, because it touches on the life of a nudist and encompasses the natureist way of living. In today’s time, the movie is accessible on streaming services such as Tubi TV, Plex and Amazon Prime Video. However, as stated earlier, expect the film to have several flaws.
Conclusion
The film touches on several important subjects such as the difference between being naked and naked sovereignty, sensitivity to notice violence and body positivity and there are things that could help let Americans know more about bein nudist but much rather it fails to produce as the trailer or the film itself would depict it. The film has an incredible true story but the poorly produced plot ruins any chances of the movie having any educational value.
For an audience who’s fond of naturism and indie film, “American Nudist” could be a great film to provoke a discussion about the biased perceptions that revolve around the ideology of nudism and body positivity. However, it does not present a positively elaborate and well versed story for those who are after a well fitted and detailed film. In the end though, “American Nudist” is a film which aims to transgress social norms but succeeds to do so only partially.
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