World Famous Comics: Naked Lunch - Criterion Collection
Naked Lunch - Criterion Collection
Starring: Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Julian Sands, Roy Scheider Directed By: David Cronenberg Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Criterion Number of Items: 2 Region Code: 1 Release Date: November 11, 2003 Running Time: 115 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 1991
Product Description: Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 11/11/2003 Run time: 115 minutes
Amazon.com essential video: You are now entering Interzone, William S. Burroughs's phantasmagorical land of junk, paranoia, and crawly things. Best travel advice: "Exterminate all rational thought." In David Cronenberg's superbly shot, unnerving warp on the Burroughs novel, the novelist himself becomes a main character (played in an implacable monotone by Peter Weller), with elements from Burroughs' life--including the shooting of his wife during a "William Tell" game, and bohemian friends Kerouac and Ginsberg--added to frame the book's wild visions. This is, ironically, a somewhat rational approach to an unfilmable book (and it makes a hair-curling double bill with Barton Fink, another look at writerly madness, with both films sharing Judy Davis). Cronenberg is a natural for oozing mugwumps and typewriters that turn into giant bugs, of course. But in the end, this is really his own vision of the artistic process, rather than Burroughs's hallucinatory descent into hell. --Robert Horton
oh no I really did not enjoy this item. Having never read the classic, I thought I could shortcut the process with the movie version. Although the delivery, pricing, etc. were all swell, I just couldn't get myself to benefit from whatever I was expecting of the story's contents. It' just too abstract and rambling for me.
Awesome A really great movie. Just make sure you pay very close attention and follow the movie carefully.
Creepy Goodness Probably my runner up behind Kurosawa. Cronenberg's work is amazing. The tangibility of them is what hit's home for me. The schitzophrenic undertones don't hurt either.
Too (odd)vante-garde for me Conspiring monster bugs. . .ejaculating typewriters. . .inter-zone intrigue. . . As a statement on addiction--interesting. As a statement on writing--interesting. As entertainment--duh? Well-acted, well-made, but just, at times, so flat-out weird that it makes it, well--not enjoyable.
One of the best movies ever!! If you're not a fan of the absurd, surreal, or bizarre, you will not like this. But if you are, Cronenberg created a genre defining film with "Naked Lunch." It is every bit as Bohemian as Borroughs intended, and every bit as nightmarish, as you expext from Cronenberg. In this story, the main character's art and addictions manifest physically and begin to control him in ways he couldn't imagine.... Excellent!
FYI- If you read the commentary by William S. Borroughs, included in the insert, it will make you appreciate Cronenberg's vision 10 fold!
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