Naked Lunch

About the movie

From director David Cronenberg (THE FLY (1986), A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (2005), A DANGEROUS METHOD (2011)) comes the film adaptation of William Burroughs's modern literary masterpiece The Naked Lunch. The book was as controversial as it was ground-breaking, and was banned for many years for its sensational content. A semi-autobiographical account of Burroughs's inner journey, this surreal fantasy pulls its audience into a world of spies, witches and mutating monsters. A brilliant exploration of the power of the creative urge, the film serves as a metaphor for the struggle of the writer's mind to make sense of the modern world. Set in 1952 in New York City during a fierce winter, pest controller William Lee [played by Peter Weller of ROBOCOP (1987)] makes his daily rounds, poisoning cockroaches throughout the city's tenement buildings. But one day he discovers that his wife (Judy Davis, BARTON FINK (1991), HUSBANDS AND WIVES (1992)), has become addicted to his poison powder. Lee's grim life begins to unravel.

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