Naked Lunch (1991)

Naked Lunch: Directed by David Cronenberg. With Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Julian Sands. After developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally kills his wife, and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in a port town in North Africa.

“Iu0026#39;m always dubious when books I love are made into movies. They never QUITE translate and something is always lost. The idea of filming u0026#39;Naked Lunchu0026#39; is even more difficult than usual, because it isnu0026#39;t really a novel with a coherent, chronological narrative, more a sequence of surreal, absurdly dark and funny u0026quot;skitsu0026quot;. As such it would be impossible to make a successful movie out of the raw material Burroughs created. Luckily Cronenberg (and who would have been better equipped to make this?) has cannily blended scenes from the book with incidents inspired by William Burroughs real life, and made it work. Very well. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFans of Burroughs are sure to be more satisfied with this than the more literal and less imaginative u0026#39;Beatu0026#39;. Non-fans will hopefully be inspired to read Burroughsu0026#39; work after watching this. Peter Weller is perfectly cast as Bill Lee, and the supporting cast are also fine. I like most of Cronenbergu0026#39;s output, and I would rate u0026#39;Naked Lunchu0026#39; as one of his most successful movies, and the best depiction so far of the Beat sensibility.”