Directed by David Cronenberg
Line that stays with me: “I got my ticket”
Essay Warning: There
are no spoilers or story details. I want to offer the emotion that a film can
access within us. Plus I think the best way to watch a film is by not knowing
anything about it. Just Go In…So if you haven’t watched this film yet please
don’t read this essay. Read it afterwards so we can enjoy the “feeling”
together.
Do you want to go have a naked lunch? The title of the book,
the film, continues to rattle in my head as I try to make up my mind on what to
say about this film. It brings to mind the scene when our hero Bill Lee’s
friend Hank talks about how re-writing is a sin. I don’t know about that but at
this point in my life and career I can understand what he’s getting at. This
film is a marriage of two great artistic minds William S. Burroughs and David
Cronenberg. It would probably have never existed without David
Cronenberg and oddly enough David Cronenberg would have never made films if it wasn’t for
Mr. Burroughs. David Cronenberg wanted to be a writer but trying to surpass the
master proved to be too difficult. So
instead of being a cheap imitation he decided to move his artistic ventures
towards cinema. He moved his ventures so
he could grow freely with no ceiling and still implement the many influences,
lessons, and ideas he had found along the way. William S Burroughs influence in
David Cronenberg’s work is very apparent, even in his commercial work like the
“The Fly” where the Kafkaesque experience is in full walking display. “Naked Lunch” to me means (Please remember
that no interpretation is right or wrong) a visual meeting of two artistic
minds completely “Naked” with their work and thoughts. David Cronenberg did not
base this film solely on the book of the same name; he used various writings from
Williams S. Burroughs career and added auto-biographical accounts as well. In the end we have this film, which presents
both artists in Full Monty, dragging us through artistic hell and quiet
victories.
The work of William S. Burroughs will forever be intriguing.
It is the work of a stubborn realist who’s lived enough to not be fooled again.
When Mr. Burroughs work first came out during the end of the cold war and the
beginning of the 60’s beatnik/counter culture revolution, it brought forth a
loss of innocence so profound it transformed a whole generation of artistic
minds forever. These are ideas that shake the very ground you walk on dealing
with perception and reality. Many people shy away from this kind of
conversations because they tend to bring to light certain natural fears all
humans have about life and death. One of the reasons I think people love Mr.
Burroughs is because he went to “The Abyss” for us. If you have ever been to
“The Abyss” you can relate with his war stories. I know many people get excited
about the film in relation to the drugs and that sort of wild lifestyle but the
film offers much more than that. The film deals more with the creative process,
and. The strange forever scarring moments that births it and the long road
ahead. Mr. Burroughs said the reason he became a writer was due to the fact
that he killed his wife Joan when trying to pull their “William Tell Routine”. I love how David Cronenberg found a brilliant
way to bookend the film with this important fact of Mr. Burroughs life. It
gives the film weight so it does not come across as flimsy but as a true
nightmare of the creative process.
“Naked Lunch” is one of those films everybody wants an
explanation for. What does that scene mean? What did he mean with that shot?
That sort of approach doesn’t work for me with films like “Naked Lunch” because
this film is a prose. This film says
many things all at once and in a very straight forward manner. One of the famous
lines from the film “Exterminate all rational thought that is the conclusion I
have come to” makes this plain. That line of dialog sets the tone for the
film. Makes me think, I mean what kind of living situation does a man have to
be in order to contemplate such thoughts. After watching my local news for
about five minutes that phrase is about the only thing that makes sense. People kill each other with no disregard, and
the politicians don’t care how many people they kill to get their objectives done, but they want us to remain civil. Does that make any sense?? NO! “Naked
Lunch” takes us on an extreme journey of an artist who would rather live a life
of debauchery, fueled by bug powder than conform to “reality” and its many
paradoxes. The film is also very funny thank God! Roy Scheider’s performance as Dr. Benway, is comic gold. Judy Davis is perfect even though she's playing two different characters. The film is not a sad sappy
story about addiction. It revels in artistic hardships and new beginnings. It finds humor in hallucinations, delivers
great special effect to bring characters like the Mugwump to life and finds it
center with genuine cinematic moments of obliqueness that have a strange calm
to them.
I once thought that sort of artistic temperament was hogwash.
Getting lost in your work and all that, how naïve I was. Of course it depends
what kind of artist you are. Nowadays it is hard to tell. Many artists these
days have nothing to offer and work more as product placement. Luckily, we are not discussing any of today’s
artists but Mr. Burroughs, he is an artist who took it to the limit and back.
Today’s society looks at art as a means to make money, no longer is it a means
of human discovery. To discover who we are, what our brain and heart truly want
to say during this life, leaving a visible imprint on the wall of time for
future generations. I took that artistic plunge four years ago. Left my 9 to 5 behind for good, it no longer
made sense to work there after a robbery that took place that could have cost
me my life. I would have been killed for less than $500. I decided that night
that I could no longer waste time and started to do what I love with my life
FULL TIME and dedicate my time to become great in my craft. Of course hardships
followed, but the experience, the writing, and the ideas that came out ever
since I’ve dedicated myself to this life have been a revelation for me and have
brought me happiness because I am myself. I no longer have to waste time doing
somebody else's dirty work. I have gotten a chance to grow as an artist and
believe me when I tell you can get lost in your work!
When the credits roll at the end of “Naked Lunch” there is
not much to hold onto except the journey.
Same can be said of the creative process. It is hard trying to find that
magic and hone it. “The Spirit” as the late Ian Curtis called it in my favorite
Joy Division song “Disorder”. It truly comes and goes like a lost ghost. Timing
is everything, when I was young I wrote about fun adventures where all the
characters live happily ever after. As I got older I started to write
tragedies. As an artist you want to lose yourself in order to find something
new, to find some truth worth printing. There is no map for such an endeavor
and we are all built differently, with the past of our parents guiding the
compass. Most of our artistic heroes were on something to escape the cheap
venal reality of distorted logic. From alcohol to heroin it doesn’t matter, we
all got one vice. If you are a consumer you go shopping and it makes you feel
better. If you are an artist you might drink till honest thoughts come pouring
out and you make the song you always wanted to make. We all pay for what we
want one way or another. “Naked Lunch”
was paid by Bill Lee’s guilt and nightmarish hallucinations. That’s that. It is
not a pretty picture but nobody said it was supposed to be. I love the “As is” attitude this film
projects. It is not about the “truth” or “meaning”, it is simply about the
crazy twists and turns some artists go through in order to get the job
done. At times the story ends unhappily
but as a whole it can be quiet riveting and mesmerizing. Worth the whole trip!
ABOUT RCM:
Rutz Classic Movies is dedicated on writing film essays for films that
in Rutz's opinion, have not gotten the credit they deserve.
Next Essay: George Romero's Day of the Dead
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