Naked Lunch (1991)

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This cinematic/literary hybrid fuses motifs from Beat writer William S. Burroughs's novel of the same name with elements of the author's biography and plenty of the cerebral alienation and biomorphic special effects fans of creepy cult director David Cronenberg have come to expect. Bill Lee (Peter Weller) wants to write, but he exterminates bugs to pay the bills. His wife, Joan (Judy Davis), becomes addicted to Bill's bug powder dust, and soon he joins her in a world of unorthodox hallucinogens; he visits the kindly yet sinister Dr. Benway (Roy Scheider) and walks away with his first dose of the black meat -- a narcotic made from the flesh of the giant aquatic Brazilian centipede. Soon, monstrous beetles are whispering conspiracy theories in Bill's ears and his nebbish writer friends Hank (Nicholas Campbell) and Martin (Michael Zelniker) are sleeping with Joan under his nose. When a party trick involving a liquor glass and a gun goes awry, killing Joan, Bill flees to Interzone, a Mediterranean city full of talking insectoid typewriters, double agents, offbeat aesthetes, and plots within plots. As he navigates this paranoid landscape, Bill begins ingesting another drug called mugwump jism and writes fragments that Hank and Martin soon assemble into a novel under the title Naked Lunch. As beat literature aficionados know, Interzone is based on Tangiers -- the city where Burroughs wrote Naked Lunch. The incident in the film in which Hank and Martin appropriate Bill's writing and have it published closely approximates the real-life circumstances of the novel's publication, although it was Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac who helped out the real-life Burroughs. The William Tell incident that kills Bill's wife is also drawn from the author's real life. "William Lee" is both Burroughs' literary stand-in and the name under which he published his first autobiographical novel Junky. Ian Holm, who plays Joan Frost's husband, Tom, would appear in Cronenberg's similarly experimental eXistenZ several years later. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Warning:  This product is intended for mature audiences only. It may contain violence, sexual content, drug abuse and/or strong language. You must be 17 or older to purchase it. By ordering this item you are certifying that you are at least 17 years of age.

Theatrical Feature Running Time:

115 mins

Complete Cast:

Director(s):

David Cronenberg

Writer(s):

David Cronenberg

Producer(s):

Jeremy Thomas

Theatrical MPAA Rating:

R(Substance Abuse, Nudity, Strong Sexual Content, Adult Situations, Violence, Profanity, Not For Children)

Categories:

Foreign, Special Interest

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• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Sound Editing
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Sound
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Sound
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Sound
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Sound Editing
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Sound Editing
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Sound Editing
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Picture
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Adapted Screenplay
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Director
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Art Direction/Production Design
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Cinematography
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Supporting Actress
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Sound
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Sound Editing
• 1992 - Genie Awards - Best Sound Editing
• 1990 - National Society of Film Critics - Best Director
• 1991 - New York Film Critics Circle - Best Supporting Actress
• 1991 - New York Film Critics Circle - Best Screenplay