"Naked Lunch" is a 1991 drama directed by David Cronenberg starring Peter Weller and Judy Davis. The last time I visited one of the director's films it was the terrifying "The Fly" with Goldblum and although I'm basically someone who can bear the look at blood, gore and other gross liquids, the film hit me right at the guts. From there on, I planned on watching his other famous films as well and thought I would continue with a film I already had in my shelf. The summary of the adaptation of beatnik author William S. Burroughs already sounded mental. I had no clue about what I was going to witness and it went increasingly more insane from minute to minute - as stupid as it may sound, I actually kinda liked it. Once you're drawn into the weird nature of the film you're able to appreciate the brilliance in all the madness. It features countless subtopics that are hinted through minimal details, but in general I'm sure that this film is about a struggling author who desperately tries to finish his novel and takes several drugs that give him hallucinations. But the most interesting thing though is that I really couldn't tell what scenes were part of reality, what were delusions and if the whole depicted conflict wasn't a nightmarish fantasy from the beginning. Not only could this be hinted by how the people treat insects in general (they make meat and drugs out of it), also how the film intentionally creates contradictions that are supposed to lead the viewer astray. Without giving away too much, like in one scene he appears to be a homophobic and in the other he's a homosexual encounter himself. It's paradoxes like this that give the film a particular surreal and even hypnotic touch to it. Additionally, let's not forget that it's a typical Cronenberg: the practical effects - from typewriter-bug hybrids to humanoid insects that are milked like cows - there's not a single practical effect that made me feel nauseous (mostly increased by my personal state of tiredness) and I was on the brink of throwing up again. In the same absurd manner the movie continues to depict one controversy after another. Lead by Weller, the cast gave performances that couldn't be any more laconic and intentionally showed little to no emotions in the first place. They take you on a delirious trip of controversies and both ethically and morally questionable decisions that will blow your mind with it's craziness. It wants to provoke, it wants to grab you by the brain and shake it and it definitely wants to make you wonder what the hell you're even watching. All in all, this film is a perfect collaboration between two masterminds. Cronenberg managed to successfully capture the the essence of Burroughs's deepest and most perverted thoughts and fantasies and bring it to the big screen. It's a picturesque and colorful nightmare that takes place in the damaged imagination of a drug addicted writer. It's absurd, it's absolutely gross and excessively grotesque. What they both created is the pedant to a nuclear bomb of bizarre vehemence that was ever shown on the silver screen. In the first place, I couldn't tell what I had to deal with, but the more time passes after the credits have rolled, the more I'm able to appreciate the art in it. It's not everyone's darling and hence the general low ratings. Nevertheless, I'd like to end the review by quoting Nelson Muntz: "I can think of two things wrong with that title..."
Review of Naked Lunch
