Review of Naked Lunch (1991) by Mike H — 04 Mar 2009

Film is such an interesting medium because you can make a world where anything is real. The problem with drug storylines is that when an interesting visual happens along, it isn't "real" -- it's just a halucination. It also tends to mean that the characters have no personality traits worth mentioning.

To top it off, the hallucinations in Naked Lunch are all about the same, and the plot only progresses when the protagonist is high (and therefore doesn't actually progress). It feels like something written by a college Creative Writing degree undergraduate who thinks writing about being high while high makes him forward-thinking and unrestrained. There is definitely something literary-with-a-false-sense-of-intelligence-and-importance about the story.

If acting and photography weren't excellent, this movie would have little going for it. But they are, and a few of the visuals are enticing.