Naked Lunch

1991 unfilmable book adaptation

Rating: 16/20

Plot: Bill Lee's an exterminator who accidentally shoots his wife in the forehead soon after the discovery that she is shooting up his bug poison. It's also soon after he begins taking in the stuff intravenously and soon after a giant roach tries to convince him that she is an enemy operative who needs to be disposed of. He escapes to Interzone where he continues to work for a variety of strange entities.

This was definitely better than I remember it and almost makes me wonder if I should give every other Cronenberg movie I've hated another shot. It's easily the most I've enjoyed a David Cronenberg joint, but a lot of that probably comes from already enjoying the Burroughs' book. Cronenberg keeps things pretty even which is good because a more chaotic approach would have made this repulsive and junky. Regardless, there's a lot of coolness here. The special effects are pretty cool (mostly grotesque insects and anthropomorphized typewriters), the music is about perfect, and the story weaves in and out of reality like a psychedelic mystery. Drug noir? There are some great performances; Peter Weller is excellently on-edge as Uncle Bill himself, and Judy Davis is wonderful in very difficult dual roles. If you "exterminate all rational thought" like either the Ginsberg or Kerouac character tells you to early in the film, you'll enjoy the mysterious reality-bending and slyly surreal plotline and dialogue gems like "I'm shooting up your roach powder," "The centipedes are downright arrogant," and (my favorite) "Mugwump jism can't be beat." But if the reference to mugwump jism doesn't make it completely obvious, this is definitely the type of movie that isn't for everybody. It is a good companion piece for Barton Fink (mostly as a surreal look at the difficulties of writing something) and Fear and Loathing (for obvious reasons).