Review of Naked Lunch (1991) by Spangle — 06 Feb 2017

With each passing David Cronenberg that I watch, I become convinced that my latest viewing in his filmography may just be the weirdest one yet. Naked Lunch may live up to this billing, at least until I watch another Cronenberg film. What billing is does live up to is that, as of now, it is my favorite film of his. Surreal, dark, and defying interpretation, Naked Lunch is a nut that is not just tough to crack, but it fights back. It is a film that, naively, I believed I had pinned down as we neared the ending. However, the one thing the film left me with, above all else, is to exterminate rational thought. To approach this one rationally is to approach it wrong. It is not a rational film, just as the world around us is highly irrational. It is the job of the writer to capture this irrationality and put it on display, as William Burroughs has so brilliantly done in his semi-autobiographical Naked Lunch.

After killing his wife accidentally via "William Tell" trick, William Lee (Peter Weller) begins subconsciously writing a novel at the same time he gets caught up in world of governmental secrets exposed to him by his typewriter, which transforms into a bug. This is brought to his attention when he becomes addicted to a bug killing powder that, as his now deceased wife eloquently explained, "Makes you feel like a bug." Rationally, one could argue that the film is merely a result of his drug use. They are hallucinations, as William believes, that do not really exist. Yet, there is so much evidence that these things do exist that it causes cognitive dissonance. There is no way these things could be real, right? Well, it is a David Cronenberg film, so of course these things could be real.

Irrationally, the film makes a lot of sense and its purpose is quite clear. It is semi-autobiographical on the part of Burroughs, who has a drug addict, writer, and convicted of manslaughter for pulling a "William Tell" trick and accidentally shooting his wife in the head. His novel, published in 1959, was incredibly controversial. Yet, in essence, the film is about writing and writers. The gateway to this alternate universe is the typewriter. From there, William receives his missions and, apparently, writes a stellar novel. Writers live in their own minds. To tell a story, one must delve deep within themselves and find a story worth telling that they could visualize. William's tale, therefore, is real. All of it. Every odd encounter is merely part of the writing process and the path his brain takes in order to spit out this novel of his. These visualizations and alternate reality are merely the high given to him by writing and living on the literary edge. Thus, he is addicted to writing and the high he receives from the written word. His world and the film itself is autobiographical of Burroughs beyond the similar life details. Rather, this is his world. Accentuated by drug use, Naked Lunch is the mind of a writer given to other writer's to let them know they are not crazy. Writing is a mad science to a degree and this film articulates the intricacies and oddities that the mind goes through when writing. In essence, writing is a drug that grants you a passport to an alternate reality. Yet, it is a bug that refuses to be exterminated and an itch that simply must be scratched.

To expose his story, in Naked Lunch this is Interzone, a writer must go undercover. Yet, he can lose sight of himself and begin to believe in his own cover story. By doing this, he loses sight of reality and of who he actually is in the real world. The fake story, Interzone, is one that he merely experiences and delves into when he needs to write. William realizes that he is losing sight of reality in the film when he cries on the ground after saying goodbye to two friends, fearful that he will never see them again. This fear comes from the knowledge that he is losing sight of reality. The high and power given to him through storytelling is one that makes the real world feel like a poor imitation of the reality he has carved for himself by himself. This is why the writers here are obsessed with their typewriters. It is their needle. Their vial. The instrument used to make them feel real and enter reality once more. As such, it is addictive.

The film itself, while defying rational thought, it is also about the extermination of rational thought. Writing enters us into a world of fiction. It defies rational thought and can be surreal. It can depict reality according to the artist. This ties together two scenes in the film. One, the opening where William's two friends are speaking about writing. One argues that rewriting is a must, while the other says it is a sin because it betrays your original thoughts. William says then that all rational thought must be exterminated. Later, Tom Frost (Ian Holm) communicates to William without his lips. His lips say something else as his words talk to him about consciousness and the killing of his wife.