Naked Lunch (The Criterion Collection)
by David Cronenberg
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ian Holm, Judy Davis, Julian Sands, Peter Weller, Roy ScheiderDirector: David Cronenberg
Brand: HVC
Cinematographer: Peter Suschitzky
Writer: David Cronenberg
Editor: Ronald Sanders
Producer: Gabriella Martinelli
Producer: Jeremy Thomas
Writer: William S. Burroughs
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-11-11
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of Naked Lunch (The Criterion Collection)
Movie Review: JOURNEY TO INTERZONE.....
Summary: 5 Stars
In NYC, 1953, married couple Bill and Joan Lee are addicted to a narcotic roach powder Bill has access to through his job as an exterminator. When he's arrested by narcotic agents, they introduce him to a giant talking bug kept in a suitcase that informs Bill he is being recruited by a subversive agency and must kill his wife as she is an enemy agent. Bill breaks free and returns home where he "accidentally" shoots Joan in the head playing their usual game of "William Tell". He panics and escapes to a seedy waterfront bar frequented by gay men and meets a humanoid bug creature that tells him he must go to Interzone where he will learn more about his situation. Interzone is an exotic, North African type city where the most seductive of drugs is manufactured from centipedes. There, he meets writers whose typewriters morph into typewriter size talking bugs. One of the writers is Joan Frost, a doppelganger for Bill's "late" wife Joan. Once ensconced in Interzone, Bill is confronted with his personal demons: drug addiction, paranoia, conspiracy theories, repressed homosexuality and his own frustrated desire to write...specifically, a novel to be called "Naked Lunch". David Cronenberg wrote and directed this incredible film based on the writings of William S. Burroughs and patterned the character of Bill after him. The film is hallucinatory, strange, with grotesque elements involving giant mutated bugs that may disgust those with lesser tolerance for challenging viewing. However, it's extremely well made and acted with Peter Weller as the numb and dazed Bill, Judy Davis as both Joans and Julian Sands, Ian Holm in odd character roles, and Roy Scheider in a bizarre role as Dr.Benway. The ending brings the film full circle as you come to understand the tortuous process of writing a novel and how one man's mind produced a masterpiece of underground literature during an age when normality seemed to be the only option. That is until the beat writers paved the way for future writers to explore the dark aspects of the human psyche. "Naked Lunch" is a must for Cronenberg fans and for those familiar with Burroughs and the beat writers of the 50's. References to a couple of those underground writers appear as friends of Bill's. There's an excellent moody progressive jazz soundtrack by Howard Shore that's true to the era and great 50's period design and atmosphere with faithfully recreated costumes by Denise Cronenberg. DVD package includes a good booklet with essays on "Naked Lunch" and Burroughs plus a second supplementary disc that includes a documentary on the film's making. I can't recommend this package enough. It's in a league of it's own. For those enthusiasts, exterminate all rational thought and enjoy.
Summary of Naked Lunch (The Criterion Collection)
Synopsis:Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: NR
Street Date: 11/11/03
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
LanguageENGLISH
Foreign Film: no
Subtitlesno
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve Please note: This supplier will be closed on 11/24, 11/25, 12/26, 1/2 for the holidays. The shipping cut off is 12/10 to try and have the products delivered by Christmas.
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
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