William Burrough’s novel “The Naked Lunch” is one of the most acclaimed of Beat Generation writings. The visionary horror director, David Cronenberg, combines film-noir, horror and science-fiction to recreate Burrough’s expressionistic journey into a writer’s soul: an examination of the terrifying link between insanity and artistic inspiration. In a dream-like North African city, a group of American writers and artists immerse themsleves in drugs and sex, and occassionally in their artistic pursuits. Based closely on Burrough’s relationship with his wife - whom he accidentally killed - “The Naked Lunch”, though a novel that owes much to the grammar of cinema, was long considered unfilmable. Cronenberg’s attempt is audacious and ultimately successful. With Judy Davis, Peter Weller, Julian Sands and Roy Scheider. The haunting musical score is by Ornette Coleman.
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
304395
Language
English
Audience classification
MA
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Beat generation
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Expressionism in motion pictures
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Beat generation
Feature films → Feature films - Canada
Literature → American literature - Film and video adaptations
Literature → Burroughs, William S., 1914-
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)