Naked Acts

In this comedy-drama Cece is the pretty, grownup daughter of a former 1970s "blaxploitation" movie sexpot, and when she tries to carve out her own fledgling acting career she vows that she won't become famous by taking all her clothes off, the way her mother did. But straightaway Cece is cast in a small-time screen drama playing a painter's model--and the role calls for extensive nudity. Will she or won't she strip for the (male) director, the (male) screenwriter, and their cameras? First-time filmmaker Davis was obviously working with a budget hardly bigger than Cece's film-within-a-film, and some gaffes slip through in the production values. But it's also a sly feminist farce that addresses the hypocrisy surrounding the last taboo in cinema: keeping your clothing on.