First released in 1959 to great controversy William S Burrough’s Naked Lunch is surely one of the most known & provocative experimental novels of all time. Its structure is often cut-up and episodic with its blend of conspiratorial/ paranoid noir, seedy and perverse Sci-fi, dives into unconscious landscapes, portrayal of hard drug use, and darkly humorous skits.  Since the 1960s, there have been more than a few attempts to adapt the frankly unfilmable original novel into a movie. Antony Balch, who worked with Burroughs on a few short film projects, considered making a musical with Mick Jagger in the lead role in the ’60s.  Then the author himself adapted his book for the scene;  with Dennis Hopper being considered for the lead role. But finally, in the early 1990s Canadian director/auteur David Cronenberg stepped into the fray to realize the project's potential. He decided wisely against a straight adaptation, but instead, he mixed scenes/ themes from the book, with elements of Burroughs'  own life, to create somewhat of a hybrid about the writing of the book rather than the book itself.  Here from those fine folks at Arrow Video is a new release of the film- either coming as a double Blu-Ray set, or a single UHD release. I’m reviewing the former, and as we’ve come to expect from Arrow,  we get a lovely new 4K scan of the film, as well as a great selection of extras.

Naked Lunch was the tenth film helmed by Cronenberg, and it appeared in the year 1991. I guess the best way to describe it is as a highly surreal 1950s period drama, meets greyly psychedelic/ paranoid sci-fi film. You won’t need to have read the original book to watch the film, but it certainly enhances the whole thing.

The film is centred around the brown dress suited Bill Lee(Peter Weller)- he’s an ex-junky, who works as a bug exterminator. He lives with his pale and grey set-eyed wife Joan(Judy Davis) in a rundown & wallpaper peeling apartment. Early on when working on an extermination job- he notes he’s running out of the yellow powder he kills the cockroaches with sooner than expected- and fairly soon realises Joan is shooting up on bug powered. Also in Bill’s life are Hank & Martin- who are trying to make it as beat writers. Bill gets arrested for drug possession, and while sitting in the police station interview room on his own- he gets talking to a giant, pink orifice-twitching cockroach. It informs him that his wife isn’t what she seems, and Bill is unbeknownst to himself an undercover agent. After getting released- he goes back to his apartment, and fairly soon after asks Joan if she’ll play the William Tell game- she places a glass on her head- and he shoots her in the head.

Next Bill flees to the north African city of Interzone- which sits in its own off-kilter universe- where typewriters turn into giant cockroaches and humanoid lizard heads. It’s a place where shady perversion is rife, as is paranoia- with the locals chopping up and selling giant centipedes. The film then shifts between the Interzone, and the ‘normal’ reality- where Hank & Martin are trying to get Bill to publish his book.

The film is a greyly heady mix of noir-touched drug addiction drama, low-key but unbalancing sci-fi, with flecks of body horror, and simmering homosexual air of sleaze. It runs for just under the two-hour mark, and largely the viewer is pulled in & captured by the strange, subtle unsettling & numbingly grey atmosphere Cronenberg managers to harness here.

Acting wise Weller plays the character of Bill in an often distant, deadpan manner- though when needed he also sells the air of a troubled, at times emotionally falling apart junky-come-writer.  Davis appears in two roles, his wife in the first reality, and the woman he’s lusting after in Interzone- and she managers to play both roles subtly differently. We also have a good supporting cast- taking in Ian Holm as a well-to-do Interzone writer, and Julian Sands as the well-spoken-yet-homosexual letch like Yves. The soundtrack is composed by Cronenber’s main soundtrack composer Howard Shore, and mixes broodingly moody soundscaping with free jazz horn playing to great effect.

I’ll have to admit it must be coming on for twenty years since I last saw Naked Lunch, and it still packs a very distinctive & subtly sleazed/unsettlingly atmosphere. It’s also made me want to revisit the Naked Lunch novel, and its follow two ups The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded- as it’s about the same time since I read those books., and each pushes the limits of novel form into more experimental waters

Moving onto this double-disc Blu-Ray set. On the first disc, we get the film it’s self- which looks truly wonderful in its new 4k scan- with its clean & crisp colour pallet, and breathtaking clarity of picture. On this disc, we get just two commentary tracks along with the film- the first is an archive one with Cronenberg, and the second is a new track with film historian Jack Sargeant and screenwriter Graham Duff. I only played the second track for this review- and I must say it’s excellent as both Sargeant & Duff are very familiar with the film, the director's work in general, and the original Naked Lunch book/ Burrough's work in general. They begin by commenting on the lengthy opening credits & the neat graphics/fonts it utilizers.  They talk about how the first part of the film was very roughly based on Burrough’s time working as an exterminator himself. They talk about David Cronenberg's work as a scriptwriter,  and how his scripts are full of subtle touches. We find out that when actress Judy Davis was first sent the script- she was rather appalled she’d been offered the part, though of course does a wonderful job with her role.  They talk about when they think normal reality stops in the film. Comment on the set design colourings, and how it looks wonderfully degraded & noir-like.  They discuss the visual weight of physical effects in the film, and Weller's wonderful underplaying of his role. They talk about moments of Cronenberg's own invention in the film, and how these run alongside Burrough's themes.  They discuss the Dr Benway character- and how he's portrayed in the film, and how he's written in the Burroughs literary universe.  They talk about the William Tell scene, and how the real event happened in Mexico, not New York as it is in the film. We find out this was the first script  Cronenberg wrote on a laptop, and the use of typewriters in the film. Later on, they comment on the film's wardrobe, which sits wonderfully alongside everything else in the film.  They discuss the film's literary narrative as a focus, and other movies that do this successfully. The noir touches found in the film, and much, much more- a really worth a play track.

Moving onto the second extras disc,  and boy there is a huge amount of great new stuff here. There’s  Exterminate All Rational Thought( 101 minutes) which is an in-depth interview with lead actor Peter Weller. Naked Attraction (15.32) onscreen interview with producer Jeremy Thomas. Peter Suschitzky on Naked Lunch( 11.01) onscreen interview with the film's director of photography. Naked Flesh (18.36)  onscreen interview with special effects artist Chris Walas. A Ballad for Burroughs (17.50) onscreen interview with composer Howard Shore. All of these interviews are excellent, but the Weller & Shore ones stood out most to me.
Otherwise, on the new front, we have Tony Rayns on William S. Burroughs ( 102 minutes) which finds the renowned writer and critic giving a wonderfully in-depth look at the life of Burroughs & his work. David Huckvale on Naked Lunch( 31.27) which finds this soundtrack expert discussing Shore’s score. A Ticket to Interzone ( 28.31) a visual essay by critic David Cairns. We get Naked Making Lunch( 54.40) which is a remastered version of this great making-of documentary by Chris Rodley. The disc is finished off with concept art gallery & image galleries, which features a fair bit of never before seen art.

The finished release comes with a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork. There’s a double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned. There are six postcard-sized reproduction lobby cards. An eighty-page perfect bound book featuring new writing by critics Vanessa Morgan and Jack Sargeant, plus select archival material including David Cronenberg’s introduction to Everything is Permitted: The Making of Naked Lunch, and a chapter from Cronenberg on Cronenberg.

In conclusion, this is a truly wonderful/ definitive reissue of Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch. With a lovely new 4k scan, and a truly excellent selection of extras. Certainly, one of this year's highlight releases- and a must-have set, whether you own the film in another format or not!.