"Naked Lunch" is a movie released in 1991. It was written and directed by David Cronenberg. Yes, that David Cronenberg. The "Scanners" guy. Him. Somewhat more astounding is that this movie was not in any way made by David Lynch. How did that happen? They got a different David to make a Lynchian movie. It is, of course, based off the book of the same name, written by William S. Burroughs.
Anyone who reads the book will probably wonder how in the world are they going to interpret it into a movie. It seems impossible! And in many ways, it is impossible. I'm not joking. It really is. No one should make a movie for that book. It's a bad idea. Of course, they actually did make a movie, and the movie is about as close to the book as it can be. I'm actually surprised. They actually did it.
It would be impossible to do a movie word-for-word of the book, but they did their very best to get as much of the content into the film while trying so very hard to both capture the feel of the book while also being a movie. By the latter point, I mean that this really is a movie. It has actors, and there is a script, and they are reading their lines at the appointed places, and I really don't think there is any adlibbing going on. Don't quote me on that, but everything seems to be done very purposefully. But this is not a normal movie. This is a surreal drug-scape with a story that is still very interesting... as long as you just relax and pay close attention.
The main character is a man named William Lee, but he is very clearly William S. Burroughs. They made the author of the book the main character. This was a great idea since that is the impression I got from the book. Almost in every scene, William is on drugs and fully addicted to them. Like the book, the movie makes his altered perception of reality part of the story. It is extremely hard to figure out what is real and what isn't. The hallucinations are mixed in with the reality. It is one big trip from beginning to end.
And during this long drug trip, you have a very intricate spy vs. spy intrigue story that you have to circumvent. It's all very good, and I really did notice that a lot of it was directly taken from the book and implemented in a fascinating way into the film. Cronenberg did this flawlessly, and I loved it.
Even though it is hard to really figure anything in the book out, the book did have characters in it, and my favorite was always a certain Doctor Benway. He is in the movie, but he doesn't have a whole lot of airtime. Even so, he is very important to the plot and his few scenes are spectacular. If this story has a high priest character, it would be Benway.
I do recommend this movie. If you read the book, it's even better. If you haven't read the book, the movie may make you wonder how the book would actually go, and visa versa for reading the book first and then wondering about the movie. I really like both of them, and I am very pleased they went through the trouble to make this film interpretation.
One warning though! This movie will make you feel filthy. You will want to take a shower when you are done watching it. It is one of the most filthy films I have seen in a long time. I felt gross.
Also to David Lynch, I really disliked his movie "Inland Empire." I would say that it was similar in feel to "Naked Lunch," but it did not seem to have any good direction to it. "Naked Lunch" actually sells the "sureality mixed with actual plot" better in my opinion. I know that comparing those two movies might be kind of a stretch, but I just felt the need to mention that because of how they both made me feel when I watched them.
[And if you are seeing this David Lynch, I am actually a huge fan of yours and "Inland Empire" is literally the only movie you ever did that I did not like. Keep up the great work.]
This blog was written on August 14, 2024.
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