Director: David Cronenberg
Screenplay: David Cronenberg
Based on the novel by: William S. Burroughs
Producers: Jeremy Thomas, Gabriella Martinelli
Starring: Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Julian Sands, Roy Scheider
Year: 1991
Country: Canada, UK, Japan
BBFC Certification: 18
Duration: 115 mins
“I knew she was the one ‘cause she was reading Naked Lunch.” So went the line in the song Beatnik Girl by obscure 90s Indie band Snug. It was my first introduction to the fusing of those two disparate words: Naked and Lunch. Long before I laughed at a confused Nelson Muntz stare at them on a cinema marquee and declare “I can think of at least two things wrong with that title” or before I fished a battered VHS copy of David Cronenberg’s film out of a secondhand shop, I knew from this post-Britpop non-hit that Naked Lunch was a book. I was sufficiently intrigued by the title that I decided I needed to read Naked Lunch, even though I knew nothing of the Beat Poets or what the book was about. Having purchased and read a copy, I was still none the wiser on that second point. I knew there was something alluring about the rhythms and use of language, even if I found the book very hard to get through. In subsequent years, I met just one other person who claimed to have read it. Their only comment was to tell me their favourite quote from the book, which, when I checked, turned out to be on the first page. Should I have doubted that they got any further? It’s certainly not for me to judge, given that I established my own phoney credentials by claiming the book was brilliant, without ever once admitting I didn’t understand it at all.
Is it entirely necessary to understand art in order to enjoy it? Going on my continued fascination with William S. Burroughs’ novel I’d say no, even if “enjoy” is a relative term here. When I finally saw Cronenberg’s loose adaptation of Naked Lunch, my initial reaction seemed to back this up. I loved the neo-Noir aesthetic, the dry wit and black humour, the squishy bug effects and the deadpan performances, but ultimately, I felt no closer to understanding Naked Lunch as a result. But subsequent research, made much easier by the dawning of the internet age, helped me to understand more about the approach Cronenberg had taken to the material, the life of Burroughs and the writing of the original novel, and how all these elements fed into this striking adaptation. It’s easy to see how Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch baffled so many in 1991, but now that initially confused viewers can immediately find detailed information about what the hell they’ve just watched it’s more likely that the film will connect, especially with those sufficiently intrigued to commit to multiple viewings. The time is absolutely right, then, for a comprehensive special edition of the film and Arrow Films have obliged with this terrific two disc release which gives viewers all the necessary information to get the most out of the film and then some.
When exterminator William Lee discovers his wife is stealing his bug powder to use as a recreational drug, he suddenly finds himself arrested for possession of an illegal substance. As the situation escalates to a possible murder charge, Lee decides to lay low in a distant North African city known as Interzone. He obtains his ticket there from a giant talking beetle who attempts to recruit him as an agent for a mysterious organisation called Interzone Incorporated. As he begins to write reports about his experiences in Interzone, Lee’s typewriter reveals itself as another insectoid employer, seemingly hellbent on making Lee question his own sexuality. Amidst this world of shady doctors, paranoid writers, sadistic hedonists and creatures with addictive jissom, Lee’s reports begin to coalesce into some kind of strange masterpiece. But in order to finish it, Lee might have to put his life, sanity and sense of identity at risk. Exterminate all rational thought.
If this synopsis makes Naked Lunch sound incomprehensible, it’s actually a much more coherent summary than the film really justifies. But, while it can be enjoyed on a visceral aesthetic level, Naked Lunch reveals itself to be a very clever piece of filmmaking once you dive into the structure that Cronenberg has managed to impose on a book long thought unfilmable. Taking real elements of Burroughs’ life and portions of his other novels as inspiration, Cronenberg’s screenplay is more like a mangled, fictionalised biopic shot through a hallucinatory lens and suggesting the sort of paranoid, frazzled mindset that could’ve created its beguilingly baffling namesake. It is a companion piece more than it is an adaptation, and a Cronenberg film at least as much as a Burroughs one. It is a searing examination of struggles with sexuality in an intolerant world, in which potentially problematic tropes like the predatory homosexual require the correct light to be shone on them to reveal the true context and meaning. While such ambiguity may seem problematic in itself, it’s difficult to imagine how Cronenberg could’ve more accurately depicted the real life complexity of the self-disgust several of the Beats reportedly felt about their own sexuality. This strand of the narrative is perhaps the most indicative of how the context and insight provided by Arrow’s new edition of Naked Lunch is so crucial to getting the most out of a movie that could otherwise seem potentially dangerous (even, difficult though it is to admit for the dedicatedly woke, invigoratingly so).
With its focus on the art of writing, its insalubrious settings, its dark, surreal humour and its shifting character identities, Naked Lunch feels like a close cousin of the Coen Brothers’ Barton Fink. That film was released in the same year and shares a cast member in Judy Davis. Though frequently acclaimed, I’ve always found Davis to be a fascinatingly unconventional movie star, an impression increased by her choice of material like this. In the dual role of William Lee’s strung-out wife and her Interzone doppelgänger, Davis is fantastic, if a little underused. Then again, Naked Lunch is so pointedly William Lee’s story that to place too much emphasis on any other character would be detrimental. So while there is able support from Ian Holm, Julian Sands and Roy Scheider, the success of Cronenberg’s brilliantly unusual screenplay pretty much hinges on the central performance and it’s a doozy. Peter Weller, probably best known at this stage of his career as RoboCop, has the perfect deadpan drawl and detached demeanour to make William Lee likeably laconic one moment and engagingly verbose another, notably when he relates Burroughs’ famous tale of the talking asshole.
If talking assholes are your thing, then there’s another excellent performance in Naked Lunch that often goes overlooked. Peter Boretski provides the voices for all the creatures, his voice emanating from pulsating insect anuses or dripping from the lips of spunk-soaked mugwumps. Many of Boretski’s characters combine an officious manipulativeness with a masochistic sexual energy and his voice work manages to brilliantly balance the ickiness and the humour. There’s plenty in Naked Lunch to trigger the spin-cycle on weak stomachs, not to mention one of the most disturbing images I’ve ever seen in a film that has haunted me since I first saw it (it involves a centipede). The lasting impact of these moments is made possible by the fabulous work of Effects Artist Chris Walas, who won an Oscar for his previous work with Cronenberg on The Fly. Walas also created the titular Gremlins of Joe Dante’s film, and his creations for Naked Lunch are caught somewhere between these two stools. There’s a certain whimsicality to these creatures, but then they start eating or fucking each other.
It’s fair to say that Naked Lunch isn’t for everyone. There may even be moments when you’re watching it in which you doubt that it’s for anyone. Nevertheless, it feels to me like a film that has aged extremely well, comfortably slotting into an age in which more readily available information can help a bewildered audience member quickly turn their confusion into comprehension and a desire to revisit that which so stumped them. Many people will come off the back of a viewing of Naked Lunch with a tiny hint of intrigue flickering below their assaulted senses. This intrigue needs to be massaged, like yellow powder into a beetle bum, until it grows like a mugwump’s cranial appendage. This fantastic new Arrow release is the perfect cerebral erector.
Naked Lunch is released by Arrow Video on 17 April 2023 on Limited Edition 4K UHD, Limited Edition Blu-ray and Limited Edition Original Artwork Slipcase UHD. The film is also available in 4K on the Arrow website from 10 April 2023.
The special features are superb. Along with a new visual essay by David Cairns which provides a perfect half-hour explanation for those seeking increased clarity about the film, there are interviews with most key creative crew members, which break down the film into manageable chunks by looking at the score, the effects, the cinematography etc. as separate entities which build up into a larger vision. The interviews range from fifteen minutes to an hour plus, including a full 60 minutes with Peter Weller. On top of this there are two audio commentaries, including one featuring Cronenberg. If you can’t get some kind of handle on Naked Lunch after all this, give up!
Those extremely generous extras in full are as follows:
• New 4K restoration from the original camera negative overseen by director of photography Peter Suschitzky and approved by director David Cronenberg
• 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original lossless 2.0 stereo and 5.1 audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by director David Cronenberg
• New audio commentary by film historian Jack Sargeant and screenwriter Graham Duff
• Naked Attraction, a new interview with legendary producer Jeremy Thomas
• Exterminate All Rational Thought, a new interview with star Peter Weller
• Peter Suschitzky on Naked Lunch, a new interview with the celebrated director of photography
• Naked Flesh, a new interview with special effects artist Chris Walas
• A Ballad for Burroughs, a new interview with composer Howard Shore
• Tony Rayns on William S. Burroughs, a new interview with the renowned writer and critic
• David Huckvale on Naked Lunch, a new interview taking a closer look at one of Shore’s most unusual film scores
• A Ticket to Interzone, new visual essay by critic David Cairns
• Naked Making Lunch, archival making of documentary directed by Chris Rodley presented in a new scan from the director’s personal 16mm print and viewable with a new audio interview with Rodley discussing his connection to Cronenberg and the process of making Naked Making Lunch
• Concept Art Gallery, a collection of drawings and maquettes for the creatures of Naked Lunch by Stephan Dupuis
• Theatrical Trailer
• Image Galleries, including never before seen stills from the set courtesy of Chris Rodley
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
• Double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
• Six postcard-sized reproduction lobby cards
• 80-page perfect bound collector’s book featuring new writing by critics Vanessa Morgan and Jack Sargeant, plus select archival material including David Cronenberg’s introduction to Everything is Permitted: The Making of Naked Lunch, and a chapter from Cronenberg on Cronenberg