About a year ago I was visiting friends in Canada. In the nights we watched a few Kenneth Anger films and this one (among others). Me and my girlfriend were still suffering from a serious jetlag even though we had been in America for a week, so consequentally we fell asleep during every film even if we found it enjoyable. “Naked Lunch” we watched in two parts, one at night and one in the morning. Now a year later we got a our own copy in order to watch it without jetlag.
I am not too fond of David Cronenberg, but I really need to get his other masterpiece “Videodrome” on DVD some time too. Like that film, “Naked Lunch” has the weirdest atmosphere. Peter Wellers marvelously plays Bill Lee, a bug exterminator who gets addicted to the usuage of the powder as drugs. Then Lee pops in and out of a strange world with the weirdest hallucinations. With his poker-face and too low voice, Wellers tells what he experiences when running into taling typewriters and intergalactic secret agents. The film shows the imaginary world of Bill Lee, sometimes mingled with ‘the real world’. Strange creatures, superb dialogues and the oddest atmosphere makes this film a must-see for anyone who likes strange films with curious atmospheres. -14/11/05-