William ArnottNaked Lunch
September 17th 2008 22:19
My fascinationation with filmmaker David Cronenberg begin a few years ago after I watched his film 'Existenz.' It was strange, yet highly entertaining. I wasn't sure what exactly happened during the movie and after multiple viewings, I am still just as uncertain.
Years later, here I sit not really sure what I think about him. I like his stuff, I love that there is a somebody out there challenging the audience like he does, but, truthfully, his movies are just fucking bizarre.
Last night I sat down and watched 'Naked Lunch.' If I was asked to write a plot synopsis about this movie, I would be at a lose for words. So here is what is posted for the plot on imdb.com:
"Not an adaptation of beat writer William S. Burrough's novel but a mix of biography and an interpretation of his drug- induced writing processes combined with elements of his work in this paranoid fantasy about Bill Lee, a writer who accidentally shoots his wife, whose typewriter transforms into a cockroach and who becomes involved in a mysterious plot in an Islamic port called Interzone. Wonderfully bizarre, not unlike Burrough's books."
-written by Keith Loh
Sure. Yeah. That's what it's about. After one viewing I'm really not sure what the hell it's about. But I'll damned if it wasn't fascinating.
I mean I get that we are looking at a man deeply disturbed by an addiction to drugs and that this is a deep look into the psyche of that man, but then again this may be entirely wrong. I just can't be sure. It feels like it is 'about' so much more.
I can't say that I'm a David Cronenberg expert, but I have seen most of his films. I've seen 'Existenz.' I've seen both of his more recent films, 'A History of Violence' and 'Eastern Promises' and liked both them considerably. I have tried to watch 'Crash' a few times, but have never made it throught the entire thing before becoming so unsettled I had to turn it off. Recently I say 'Dead Ringers' and 'Videodrome' which are just as bizarre but slightly more straighforward than 'Naked Lunch.' I saw 'The Fly' years ago (scared me to death as a little kid) and haven't revisted it since. So I still need to see a few of them including 'Scanners,' which I am really looking forward to.
I would say my favorite is 'A History of Violence' although I feel like true, deep fans of Cronenberg wouldn't pick it as their favorite. It is probably straightforward for them and that may be why I like it. I do 'get' that movie. I love it's themes about how sex and violence are closely related and I love the perfermances throughout.
But 'Naked Lunch' has had me thinking all day. I love when movies do that. They get inside of you and won't let you just leave it all behind. I can see that I could really become a deep Cronenberg fan if I would just had a little more push. I will probably rewatch a lot of his stuff over the next short while and that may be enough to become a fanatic.
I don't know why, maybe it's because they both challenge their audiences so much, but I have always put Cronenberg and David Lynch in the same category. I guess that category is the 'not for everybody because they make you work' category, but I also get the feeling the true, deep fans of either of these guys wouldn't ever put them into the same category whatsoever. I feel unqualified to talk about them. I feel a little like a poser when I say I like their movies. And hell, maybe I am. But I am just fascinated by them and if you have seen anything either has done, I'm sure you are too.
Look at this pic. I mean, what the hell?
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Comment by jon
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Comment by Tracy
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Fantastic review, I agree, it's a perplexing film...
Tracy
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