Naked Lunch (1991)

Too much of everything

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Did you people see the same film I saw?

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I admired the underlying message, and the seemingly clever imagery. I loved the unique atmosphere that is similar to Terry Gilliam's Brazil. And I was fascinated by the gorgeous animation and the designs of the animatronic bugs. But I think this movie is very self-indulgent for its own good. Very, very self-indulgent that the most important action in the movie, which led to all its series of events, happened very quick and there wasn't enough focus on it.The movie's biggest concern is using metaphors that I really didn't care to figure out what they stand for. Therefore, I wasn't engaged with the story nor the characters. Also, the tone of the movie is very slow and cold exactly like the acting.I'm really frustrated because Naked Lunch is my first Cronenberg film, and I was ready to enter his universe, and to be presented to his distinctive directorial style and to his wonderful work as I heard and read many times. That being said, Naked Lunch won't be my last Cronenberg movie because I really felt there was something special and really good deep inside this movie in spite of the fact that I didn't like it.(6/10)

Naked Lunch is not your typical movie. In fact most of it is like a messed up hallucinogenic acid trip. However, what it offers is a look into the mind of crazy weird. Centerpede humans and beetle type writers, nothing is like this film. It's storyline is interestingly compelling, whilst simultaneously being disgustingly absurd. A really terrifying look into drugs and insect killing and addictive chemicals. The Naked Lunch is not a film to watch to love. The Naked Lunch is a film about love that you watch to experience. Much like David Lynch's Eraserhead, this more direct storytelling but equally strange film will ensure to be meaningful and there are scenes you will never forget.

Now this can be a difficult film to sit through for some and may even come off a bit slow. It's thought provoking and you really need to focus on the madness of this film in order to figure out what is going on when it comes to the story. I couldn't figure out entirely what was going on after watching it the first time and I was heavily paying attention. Now some people compare this to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" which is a more popular film that revolves around the side effects of drugs. And basically is the more popular film between the two since it has Johnny Depp, it's more easy to follow despite the craziness and it's just more of a entertaining film overall. But I am gonna have to appreciate "Naked Lunch" and the ballsy directions David Cronenberg went with this flick. It's a very bizarre and weird movie all the way through, even when it comes to the characters and not just the premise and background of the story. The difficult part might be to differentiate what is hallucination and just fantasy and what is real. Even if some parts may appear like hallucinations it can be really happening just not how the protagonist views it as. The weirdness may start off overwhelming and you don't really get exactly what is going on, but as it progressed I got used to it fairly early on. Even if it feels like it's all over the place a lot of times. Since it has a lot of plots and layers going on at once. This isn't a movie I would watch again, but it's a weird trip that I can see why some people might appreciate and enjoy and others wouldn't. I personally think I liked it but just not immensely or anything like that. And also found it slow despite the strange imagery that actually really does connect with the story. But a movie driven by expression system, this one does quite a good job while blending in with the madness. It actually made me want to read the book this movie is based on, since I heard the book is even stranger. And since this is movie is based on a personal novel by William Burroughs made it more interesting as well.7.3/10

"Naked Lunch", by its very nature, is likely to strongly divide audiences. It's the logical enough merging of two distinctive visions, that of the very influential "beat" author William S. Burroughs and the highly individualistic filmmaker David Cronenberg. Right from the start you know it won't adhere to anything resembling traditional narrative. Instead, it goes straight for the bizarre, the mind blowing, the metaphorical, and the shocking. It exists in a true dream world where anything is possible. Instead of being a truly faithful adaptation of a novel that is described as many as being "unfilmable" anyway, it weaves in elements from Burroughs's own life with memorable results.It takes place in a Northern Africa community known as the Interzone, where an exterminator and aspiring writer named William Lee (Peter Weller) has fled following his accidental shooting of his wife Joan (Judy Davis). The story involves such details as drug addiction - Bill and Joan are hooked on the very substance that he uses to kill insects - and a secret plot being hatched by talking bugs that grow progressively larger. Bills' encounters with the assorted oddball human characters are no less surreal.Burroughs and Cronenberg fans should be delighted with this films' striking depictions of unreality. The creature effects, courtesy of Chris Walas and company (Walas and Cronenberg had previously collaborated on "The Fly") are incredible; the grotesqueries on display - for one thing, the bugs talk out of their sphincters - are the kind of thing that Cronenberg has always excelled at creating.The jazzy score by Ornette Coleman and Howard Shore is intoxicating, as are the production design by Carol Spier and the cinematography by Peter Suschitzky. The cast all deliver fearless and riveting performances; the heavy hitters include Ian Holm, Julian Sands, and Roy Scheider, and Davis pulls double duty by playing the companion of Holms' character as well. They all play this so well that they just completely pull you in. Weller offers a deliciously deadpan performance as the philosophical Bill.As far as films that delve into the writing process go, "Naked Lunch" may be one of the most out there in existence, but it does provide a certain amount of rewards for adventuresome film lovers.Eight out of 10.