Naked Lunch (1991) dir. David Cronenberg, Recorded Picture Company
"Well, I can think of two things wrong with that title"
Seriously, I don't think anyone else could have made this but Cronenberg. Cronenberg and William S. Burroughs. Strap in folks, we're getting weird.
William Lee (Peter Weller) is an exterminator in the 1950's. He does his job okay, but he's been having problems. His wife Joan (Judy Davis) has been swiping the chemicals in his sprayer to get high.
Then he kills her.
Oh, it was an accident of course. Just playing a rousing game of 'William Tell' but that's fine. She was a spy. A giant talking beetle told him so; 'course he killed the beetle too.
Deciding to lay low a bit, William flees to Interzone. Joan's bosses were Interzone Incorporated, so that may not be the best place for him. William decides to indulge in both heavy amounts of drugs and writing. His typewriter starts talking to him, ordering him to seduce Joan Frost (Davis). One issue is she's married to Tom (Ian Holm) but then there's the man William's bosses want him to find, Dr. Benway (Roy Scheider).
Seems Benway is running a narcotics ring, dealing in something called black meat. William decides being a double agent might be better and then things get stranger from there.
Is it possible to both admire something and be repelled at the same time? The actors do a wonderful job, with Weller being utterly perfect as the dead-eyed and cynical William. Burroughs is a hard fellow to read, and I mean that on every level.
Honestly this isn't a film you watch so much as experience. It was weird, wild, and lingers. Cronenberg took a nearly impossible task and damn near does the impossible. No one else could have done this film.
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