I got roped in by a nudist friend to watch this. Luckily, American Nudist is a definitely an art house film. I thought it was interesting they used nudism as the backdrop to tell their point (which, to me, was to be true to yourself). I guess Hollywood is running out of more "conventional" ideas lol! Anyway, once you get past the avant-garde, non-linear story line, it's actually quite an interesting look at someone slowly losing their sanity over their inability to combine what they feel is true and with what society tells them is true.
It's really an age-old story - the brilliant but troubled artist who tries to marry his vision with that old the world - and the resulting self-sabotaging behavior, neurosis, insecurities, and escapism that follows. Taylor Kong is a screenwriter who wants to write a groundbreaking film. However, he has a nudist past - something that is still a controversial topic in the United States. He wants to write a film that would bring American nudism to the forefront - to show it to mainstream American audiences as he knew it - an organic, intuitive, and innocent way of life. However, he gets caught up in Hollywood's over-sexualized and demonized version of nudism, and has to fight to maintain his vision and his sanity in a world that won't accept that being different does not mean being wrong. Which, I actually find very interesting, since you'd think that Hollywood (of all places!) would be all over a script on nudism! But I guess it's also a commentary on hypocrisy in society - I mean sex and being naked is pretty common in Hollywood, but when someone comes out and tries to be completely open about it, that's somehow not OK. This of course applies to other things that society at large can be hypocritical about. Luckily for Taylor, his one flicker of hope - his one connection between his world (that of nudism), and the outside conventional world - is Jennifer, and aspiring non-nudist actress who is open-minded enough to give Taylor and nudism a chance. Though they have their differences, they slowly see at the most fundamental level, we are all the same. This is ultimately a story of how trying to conform one's own true self to the demands of society is psychologically toxic and is the cause of mental instability.
