William Lee’s life is full of surprises. The only thing that helps him out is his ability not to be surprised. It turns out that a lot of incredible creatures live next to people, among which there are simply horrible specimens that can subjugate the will of people.
Fighting against this evil, William wades through the unfathomable maze of a changed reality.
4k movies reviews
This film is like a shameless peek into the soul of a man whose moral character, if there ever was one, has long since been degraded by the corrosive influence of drugs. Writing a positive review of this film should in no way be taken as an endorsement of the ideas it portrays.
That the film has a special energy is no doubt a credit to the director and screenwriter, and what they did can safely be called a feat. By making the idea at least somewhat digestible for you and me, they have opened the door to the world of hardened addict William Burroughs, with the help of apomorphine, returned to human form, but whether to open that door further or run away from everything associated with it is a choice everyone will make. The chaos we saw on screen is only a thousandth of the madness poured out in the pages of the book.
If the movie seemed too schizophrenic and surreal to you, then I strongly advise you not to read the book it is based on. Perhaps the 100% authentic translation of the book into a movie adaptation is quite capable of turning upside down not only the minds of mentally healthy people who saw it, but also shaking the whole world of surrealism as such. Again, no reasonable contemporary director could possibly dare to make such a production. The only worthy candidate for this (un)honorable position was Luis Buñuel, his “An Andalusian Dog” and “The Golden Age” quite fittingly demonstrates for us what borders this man is willing to go beyond in an attempt to express the surrealism that overwhelms him. “Thank God, I’m still an atheist” Luis Buñuel
The theme of homosexuality pierces both the film and the book with a thin rod. But it never becomes clear exactly how the author himself feels about this phenomenon. He clearly does not condemn it, but does he?
Digression: the expression “and himself?” appears more than once in the book. And, invisibly, is always present in the film. “According to the expression of total need: ‘Would he himself?’ Yes, he would. I would lie, snitch, snitch on my friends, steal, do anything to satisfy my total need.” Excerpt from the book
It is unclear how strong his “total need” for homosexuality was, but the idea has clearly always haunted him.
You cannot have a public point of view on this kind of cinema, either you ignore it or you have your own opinion on it. Its plot is complex and original, the actors played brilliantly, and the musical accompaniment is undoubtedly one of the best in the history of cinematography.
Perhaps the most worthy conclusion to this review might be another passage from Burroughs’ book; it is sufficiently authentic and humane to describe the point:
Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (86.3 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: LPCM 2.0
English: DTS 2.0
Subtitles
English SDH.
