With his controversial 1996 adaptation of J.G. Ballard's Crash, David Cronenberg has created reputation of a film maker ready to tackle source material previously deemed unfilmable. This was not his first such attempt. Four years earlier he had adapted Naked Lunch, novel by William S. Burroughs that used to be banned in its time, some fifty or so years ago.
Cronenberg stated that the strict adaptation of Burroughs' novel would require some 200 million US$ of budget - the sum unimaginable for a film, at least in the early 1990s, and even less likely for an adaptation of obscure cult classic. Cronenberg's script instead mixed the fictional reality with the details of the author's life. The plot starts in 1953 New York. William Lee (played by Peter Weller) is an ex-writer who had just kicked the heroin habit and starts working as a bug exterminator. Soon he realises that his wife Joan (played by Judy Davis) steals the bug powder in order to use it as a drug. After accidentally shooting her William Lee starts running from the authorities and stumbles into a talking cockroach that would convince him that he is an actually secret agent. Lee comes to Islamic port of "Interzone" where he would meet many more talking cockroaches, centipedes, gays, lesbians and similar interesting characters. He is supposed to write reports to his cockroach bosses, and those reports are basis for his novel "Naked Lunch".
Naked Lunch is not the film that should be recommended to the people with weak stomachs, since it features many surrealistically revolting images - cannibalistic anus like typewriters, human-size insects and young gay men being abused in most terrible ways imagined. Those who have strong stomachs and sit through those scenes won't be awarded for their patience, though. The meaning of those scenes is lost, as was probably the case with Burroughs' novel, written under the influence of heroin and other drugs. Despite the lack of meaning and utter confusion, there are at least few moments where Naked Lunch looks like a great film, and they feature excellent Peter Weller in the role of author's alter ego, great photography by Peter Suschitzky and good music by Howard Shore. But those moments are rare, and this film could be properly enjoyed only by the most enthusiastic fans of American Beat Generation literature.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on January 28th 2003)
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