Rating: 
Summary: really moving, disturbing to the point of...madness
Review: "clean shaven" is one of the most horrifyingly disturbing movies i've ever seen, and it is unbelievably depressing. i love insanity trip/art house/horror movies, but this movie was a little much even for me. i admired the movie enormously for the obvious value it has a red flag for how severely needy and intensely mentally ill people are simply unloved even by those who should love them most and how cold and unfeeling our society is towards them, but would not watch it again for twenty dollars. keep in mind, however, that if you're looking for art house' madness this ain't it, it's simply the real thing in sad, full, sickening color. this is not "fun" weird at all--this is just poignant and devastating filmmaking. the only thing i would criticize are the many questions left unanswered, such as who nicole's mother really was and how she died, how peter managed to even get out on the street, etc. but all in all this movie is one of the most powerful i've ever seen, and absolutely important. it almost made me want to cry, and movies never do that to me.
Rating:
Summary: really moving, disturbing to the point of...madness
Review: "clean shaven" is one of the most horrifyingly disturbing movies i've ever seen, and it is unbelievably depressing. i love insanity trip/art house/horror movies, but this movie was a little much even for me. i admired the movie enormously for the obvious value it has a red flag for how severely needy and intensely mentally ill people are simply unloved even by those who should love them most and how cold and unfeeling our society is towards them, but would not watch it again for twenty dollars. keep in mind, however, that if you're looking for art house' madness this ain't it, it's simply the real thing in sad, full, sickening color. this is not "fun" weird at all--this is just poignant and devastating filmmaking. the only thing i would criticize are the many questions left unanswered, such as who nicole's mother really was and how she died, how peter managed to even get out on the street, etc. but all in all this movie is one of the most powerful i've ever seen, and absolutely important. it almost made me want to cry, and movies never do that to me.
Rating: 
Summary: Confusing.
Review: Clean, Shaven (Lodge Kerrigan, 1994)Kerrigan, since this debut film, has gone on to work with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Which should give most aspiring filmmakers hope, because after watching Clean, Shaven, someone obviously saw through the film's glaring problems to get at the potential that equally obviously exists underneath. You're not going to find it here, though. Peter Winter (Peter Greene, from The Usual Suspects, Judgment Night, Pulp Fiction, etc.) is not a very nice guy. He also happens to be severely mentally ill; nothing is ever said about what it is he's got, though it becomes quickly obvious that schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder are two of his major problems. Upon his release from a mental institution (which you will only know if you read the box description), he finds that his wife has left him and put his daughter up for adoption (which is revealed very far into the film, but you will know if you read the box description). While he searches for his daughter, a police officer, Jack McNally (Robert Albert), is trying to tie Winter to a series of murders that seem to happen whenever he's around. After reading that plot synopsis, one thing should be very clear: if you don't read the box description, you will have no earthly idea what's going on in this movie. Sometimes that works very well (like in Memento). Sometimes it acts to the film's great detriment. Someone should have given Kerrigan a kick in the continuity a few times while he was making this film; too much of it doesn't add up until the final few scenes, and by that time, it's far too late. Greene's performance is almost painful to watch, but everything going on around him plays second fiddle; thus, the movie seems like a too-long character sketch into which a plot was thrown as an afterthought. Greene's performance alone isn't enough to carry the weight. **
Rating:
Summary: Intense, Powerful, Terrifying
Review: Clean, Shaven boasts a superb performance by Peter Greene, an incredibly tight script, wonderfully minimalist cinematography, and has some of the best, most memorable sound work this side of The Conversation.
(No less an authority than Roger Ebert named it one of his ten best films of 1994). Kerrigan's debut(!) film... takes us straight inside the head of a recently released schizophrenic. I can't recall the last time a film took me so far into the mind of a character. It's a sad commentary on our society that the airbrushed, cleaned-up "A Beautiful Mind" is getting so much attention for its Hollywoodized portrayal of schizophrenia while few people have ever heard of this far better film. Not for the easily frightened, to be sure (the fingernail scene is with me still), but for those who still care about filmmaking as more than just mindless entertainment, it's here. My only disappointment with the DVD is that we don't get commentaries from either Kerrigan or Greene, which would have been absolutely fascinating.
Rating:
Summary: A sleeper that will put you to sleep
Review: Clean, Shaven is an account of a schizophrenic man's (Peter) attempts to find and reclaim his daughter, who has apparently been placed up for adoption by relatives while Peter was incarcerated in a mental hospital. The stylistic tics director Lodge Kerrigan uses to provide insight into the mind of a schizophrenic -- short sequences where the camera is aimed at something quiet and banal (like the view from a moving car), accompanied by nonsensical (?) radio-staticky voiceovers -- also succeed in creating some slight tension. That said, these scenes are plentiful and while interesting, can't provide any real narrative pull for the viewer to get caught up in. However, the film's real weakness is that it wants to be both a snapshot of life as a deranged person and a deft psychological thriller -- a tough combination to pull off. The motivations for Peter's behavior are left ambiguous (in an attempt to mask a would-be twist ending); leaving Peter a difficult character to empathize with. The story wanders along until a detective begins seeking Peter for reasons related to a series of child murders. The detective also behaves very erratically (he has emotional outbursts alone in his car; he seeks sex with a woman related to the case; and he employs an incoherent logic in pursuing Peter -- it seems impossible that the clues shown would lead the detective to Peter's location). At times it's difficult to remember which of the two characters is supposed to be the crazy one. Throw in a lusty librarian and several scenes of graphic mutilation and you end up with ... well, with very little. Here is a movie that ends up being less than the sum of its parts -- and its parts weren't all that thrilling to begin with.
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbingly Clever!
Review: Clean, Shaven will shake the audience as they follow a young schizophrenic man frantically attempting to find his adopted daughter. The young man is traumatized by serious hallucinations and severe paranoia that emotionally and socially shake his everyday life . As the audience is following the footsteps of the young man, it is next to impossible to avoid attributing some additional characteristics to his other bizarre behaviors. These attributions will influence the audience's perception of the young man and his behavior among other people. Clean, Shaven uses the psychological disorder of a young man as an engine to create a story with true realism that will, in the end, cause pondering.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbingly Clever!
Review: Clean, Shaven will shake the audience as they follow a young schizophrenic man frantically attempting to find his adopted daughter. The young man is traumatized by serious hallucinations and severe paranoia that emotionally and socially shake his everyday life . As the audience is following the footsteps of the young man, it is next to impossible to avoid attributing some additional characteristics to his other bizarre behaviors. These attributions will influence the audience's perception of the young man and his behavior among other people. Clean, Shaven uses the psychological disorder of a young man as an engine to create a story with true realism that will, in the end, cause pondering.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best indie flicks in recent memory
Review: I caught attention of this hardly known gem at a local video store, noticing bold statements as "Dare to watch it" and "Boldest, most unforgettable film of the year." This is one film where you can believe the hype. Not since "Henry: Portrait of a serial killer" has a movie really shown an in-depth cinematic representation of the mind of a serial killer. But "Clean, Shaven" is a step above films like "Henry" and "Man Bites Dog". Winner of many awards, it tells a simple story of Peter Winter, a very dangerous schizophrenic just released from an institution, and his search for his daughter, while at the same time police are trying to catch up with him. Peter Greene is absolutely convincing as the deranged schizophrenic...he shows no emotion as he shaves his head and cuts his scalp in the process, nor is oblivous to pain during a very notable scene involving his fingernail and a very sharp object. And Kerrigan's excellent direction is what moves this film to near brillance...Instead of just telling the story with characters speaking to one another, he forces us into the mind of the schizophrenic. The movie is told mainly by images and sounds, as if what Winter was really experiencing...scenes are made unsettling by disturbing sampling and music, with long scenes of almost surreal images, intesifying the tension of the movie. After watching "Clean, Shaven", you'll have the feeling of meeting a real-life schizophrenic. Not many movies can boast this fact, nor make it realistic, but "Clean, Shaven" does that, and more. One of the most unforgettable films, indie or not, in the past few years.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best indie flicks in recent memory
Review: I caught attention of this hardly known gem at a local video store, noticing bold statements as "Dare to watch it" and "Boldest, most unforgettable film of the year." This is one film where you can believe the hype. Not since "Henry: Portrait of a serial killer" has a movie really shown an in-depth cinematic representation of the mind of a serial killer. But "Clean, Shaven" is a step above films like "Henry" and "Man Bites Dog". Winner of many awards, it tells a simple story of Peter Winter, a very dangerous schizophrenic just released from an institution, and his search for his daughter, while at the same time police are trying to catch up with him. Peter Greene is absolutely convincing as the deranged schizophrenic...he shows no emotion as he shaves his head and cuts his scalp in the process, nor is oblivous to pain during a very notable scene involving his fingernail and a very sharp object. And Kerrigan's excellent direction is what moves this film to near brillance...Instead of just telling the story with characters speaking to one another, he forces us into the mind of the schizophrenic. The movie is told mainly by images and sounds, as if what Winter was really experiencing...scenes are made unsettling by disturbing sampling and music, with long scenes of almost surreal images, intesifying the tension of the movie. After watching "Clean, Shaven", you'll have the feeling of meeting a real-life schizophrenic. Not many movies can boast this fact, nor make it realistic, but "Clean, Shaven" does that, and more. One of the most unforgettable films, indie or not, in the past few years.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I first saw this film late on television one night about four years ago. At the time I paid little attention to it. Despite this, the next day I found I could remember every shot and every scene of this amazing film. The reviews below tell you all that you need to know, I suggest you read them and then buy this film.
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