The problem with the film is actually Spencer himself. Donnelly tries valiantly to make him a subversive presence, but he’s really just a tubby, whining mama’s boy who never communicates the real ideas behind his photography. While the central journey that he takes during the film – a trek across America to get a nude shot in each of its fifty states – is an interesting one, a lot of his work just looks like above-par Playboy photography or under cooked Helmut Newton. His reactions to his subjects, however, are always interesting, ranging from the funny (the scene where a group of people at a nudist colony won’t obey his commands at a photo shoot is hilarious) to the moving (a young rape victim says that posing for his shots has been liberating and therapeutic) and the volatile (he nearly gets bitch slapped at a bikie convention for asking one of the guy’s daughters to get her gear off).
While Naked States is enjoyable on a basic level, it doesn’t really hit the heights of artistic endeavour and documentation that it obviously aspires to.
Filmink 3/5
