Naked Lunch: What did everyone think?

[ghouck]

I'm not sure if this perfectly fits into the B movie catagory, , but it really doesn't fit into ANY catogory it seems. I'm not sure how I stumbled across this film, , but it has quickly become one of my favorites. Who here has seen it, and what did you think of it? -Greg.

[Yaddo 42]

It was a nice attempt to make something like a coherent films out of a book that is anything but. Between Burroughs' wild visions, the jumps to different characters and situations, and his "cut and rearrange the pages" methods a straight adaptation of the book would be very difficult.

There were some freaky moments that were cool, and the typewriters/bugs/spies motif was very fitting, so I guess it works better a a tribute to William Burroughs or a touchstone of themes from his life and work than a film version of his book.

[Scott]

I remember watching this crazy film. Really weird stuff. I still don't know what it was about. 

[Fausto]

One of my all time favorites, its noncoherence is what I love about it (then again, I liked Forbidden Zone, so that might say something about me). I guess, as a fellow writer who doesent really have a place in this world, I kind of identified with Burroughs.

My favorite quote: "A writer faces the terrible truth, just like everyone else. The only difference is, he files a report on it."


A link to the review in the reader's section:
http://www.badmovies.org/othermovies/nakedlunch/index.html

[Andrew]

This film is weird and troubling to me, more than many of Cronenberg's films (most of his trouble me in some way).  I think it was the bizarre sexuality to it, again an undercurrent in many of the director's works.  The nearly clinical way that Bill Lee deals with the variety of improbable situations that he encounters is a huge part of what makes it so weird to me.  Where you and I would probably have a meltdown if we found a horde of people addicted to mugwump juice, Bill Lee takes it in stride.

Max Gardner wrote a review for this some years back:

http://www.badmovies.org/othermovies/nakedlunch/index.html

[Allhallowsday]

This film is weird and troubling to me, more than many of Cronenberg's films (most of his trouble me in some way).  I think it was the bizarre sexuality to it, again an undercurrent in many of the director's works.  The nearly clinical way that Bill Lee deals with the variety of improbable situations that he encounters is a huge part of what makes it so weird to me.  Where you and I would probably have a meltdown if we found a horde of people addicted to mugwump juice, Bill Lee takes it in stride.

One does not forget NAKED LUNCH quickly; but must remember that Peter Weller and his wife had been injecting themselves with roach killer before he found his way to Interzone.  Cronenberg, as always, creates a unique world in which his characters devolve.  The best word I could use to describe Cronenberg's work is "troubling."  Well said. 

 

[Mofo Rising]

I'd read a lot more Burroughs if his writing didn't contain so many sexually explicit gay "splatter" scenes.  Burroughs himself was homosexual (although he was married to the woman he ended up shooting), and if anybody was wondering, the weird sexuality in the movie Naked Lunch is toned down quite a bit from his writings.

From what I've gathered, the movie is actually more snippets of Burrough's own life tied up with snippets from his writings, not a direct adaptation of the book itself.  (Would that even be possible?  I've never made it through the book myself.)  William Lee, the main character, is Burrough's alter ego in many of his writings.

I think Cronenberg imparted a lot of his obsessions into the writings of William S., so the movie plays a lot straighter, in two senses, than the book.  Personally, I love the movie, but it's pretty rough going.

Besides, how can you not find Ian Holm subconsciously wanting to kill his wife hilarious?

Trivia: A band called Bomb the Bass has a song called "Bug Powder Dust" where a pre-She Wants Revenge Justin Warfield raps furiously about all sorts of counter-cultural drug induced happenings.  Features quotes from the movie.

[Yaddo 42]

I'd read a lot more Burroughs if his writing didn't contain so many sexually explicit gay "splatter" scenes.  Burroughs himself was homosexual (although he was married to the woman he ended up shooting), and if anybody was wondering, the weird sexuality in the movie Naked Lunch is toned down quite a bit from his writings.

From what I've gathered, the movie is actually more snippets of Burroughs' own life tied up with snippets from his writings, not a direct adaptation of the book itself.  (Would that even be possible?  I've never made it through the book myself.)  William Lee, the main character, is Burroughs' alter ego in many of his writings.

I think Cronenberg imparted a lot of his obsessions into the writings of William S., so the movie plays a lot straighter, in two senses, than the book.  Personally, I love the movie, but it's pretty rough going.

Besides, how can you not find Ian Holm subconsciously wanting to kill his wife hilarious?

Trivia: A band called Bomb the Bass has a song called "Bug Powder Dust" where a pre-She Wants Revenge Justin Warfield raps furiously about all sorts of counter-cultural drug induced happenings.  Features quotes from the movie.

Yeah when I heard they were going to make a film of the book, I wondered how or even if they would attempt the "Steely Dan" scene in a non-X-rated or freaky porn film, Needless to say that scene didn't make it into the film.

I've read a few of his books, they tend to descend into gibberish in the later parts, probably a side effect of the cut and rearrange method he used, thinking that some greater meaning would arise from it. I've read his stuff both before and after I was aware that he did this on some books, it just gave me a weird feeling of a verbal mosaic mixed with a little bit of deja vu thrown in. Probably time to give another one of his books a shot, it's been a few years.

[Derf]

I enjoyed this film overall. I personally could have done without the sexuality issues, but that is part of the story, so whatever. I like the effects, I like the imagery, and I like the absurdity of the movie. I didn't quite "get it" until I listened to part of the commentary near the end. The movie begins with the Weller character shooting his wife (okay, so it doesn't begin there but the event is near the beginning). Then things start to get weird, culminating in him finding his wife's duplicate and fleeing with her to Interzone, where he shoots her. In his life, Burroughs's writing career began shortly after he accidentally shot his wife. So, in movie terms, his cost of entering into Interzone and the life of a writer is to kill his wife. All make sense now? Good, let's break out the bug powder and have a party!