Review of Naked Lunch (1991) by Hannibal O — 30 Mar 2008

This film is certainly not for everyone. David Cronenberg seems to have a Jekyll and Hyde approach to his filmmaking. On the one hand, he makes films with linear narratives that audiences will generally watch and enjoy (i.

E. The Dead Zone, M. Butterfly, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, and maybe even The Fly). On the other hand, he also makes films where he seems to revel in unexplainable, cerebral strange narratives that contain also have a lot of gross-looking shit (i.

E. Scanners, The Brood, Spider, Crash, Videodrome, Existenz, and Naked Lunch). Cronenberg is the master of grossing the hell out of you and this film is no different. However, if you appreciate skillful filmmaking then seeing this for the art direction and cinematography alone is worth it.

It also has a great cast (Peter Weller, Ian Holm, Judy Davis, Julian Sands, and the late Roy Scheider). The story does not make much sense and its not really supposed to. After all, Burroughs and the writer character in the film lived in constant drug-induced states and this film's "story" reflects that.

I ended up enjoying this film overall, but more for the technical aspects of it and the acting than the story. There are some great performances and some wonderful lines of dialogue. Anyway, this is mainly for die hard Cronenberg fans (which I'm actually not one of) and lit majors fascinated by the Beat Generation.