Burroughs: The Movie

This intimate b/w documentary of the celebrated and always controversial author and poet – filmed over five years – might have remained in ‘the vaults’ were it not for Aaron Brookner, the late director’s nephew. Aaron discovered a print five years ago and got the ball rolling – the result is the restored version of Burroughs: The Movie.

Comprised of candid interviews, meetings with friends, TV appearances and so forth, this docu not only gives a fascinating insight into the life of William S. Burroughs but is also an invaluable glimpse of early 80’s New York. With interviews and contributions from close friends, collaborators and lovers, Burroughs’ circle comes well and truly alive. Strolling along New York and meeting close friend and one time lover Allen Ginsberg, or meeting with other acquaintances such as painter Brion Gysin (foremost from Burroughs time in Tangier), fellow Beat generation writers Herbert Huncke and Lucien Carr, poet and performance artist John Giorno and novelist and essayist Terry Southern… all these individual clips and sequences show Burroughs multi-faceted persona.
At one point Burroughs travels back to his birthplace in St. Louis to meet up with brother Mortimer and both look at old family photographs while Mortimer confesses that he couldn’t make much sense of his brother’s novel ‘Naked Lunch’. Meanwhile, Burroughs proceeds to read extracts from ‘The Place of Dead Roads’.
There’s also an excursion to Mexico where the tragic death of his wife Joan is described – courtesy of a William Tell-style stunt which went horribly wrong. Also depicted is a trip to London and a consequent meeting with painter Francis Bacon in the artist’s Chelsea studio.

Back in NY we witness an evening in a cinema dedicated to Burroughs - with the author present. One of the undisputed highlights of this documentary is a ‘home movie’ during which Burroughs, in the role of a doctor, re-enacts a scene from Naked Lunch aided by Warhol-superstar Jackie Curtis as a transvestite nurse. When Burroughs attempts a surgical procedure with the aid of a sink plunger and fake blood splatters all over the place it is one of those moments that stand testimony to the author’s warped genius!
Openly talking about his drug use, his bi-sexuality and his sorrow over the death of his son William S. Jr. at the age of 33 from substance abuse, no page is left unturned in this movie cum documentary – made with the help of a special crew of friends, including Jim Jarmusch and Tom DiCillo. Even influential punk-rock singer and poet Patti Smith is full of praise for Burroughs.

Special Features of this Blu-ray special edition include:

* New, high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
* New audio commentary by filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, who was a sound recordist on the film
* Audio interview with director Howard Brookner from 1985, conducted by William S. Burroughs biographer Ted Morgan
* New interview with Brookner’s nephew, filmmaker Aaron Brookner, who oversaw the film’s restoration
* Rare outtakes
* Footage from the 2014 New York Film Festival premiere of the film’s restoration, featuring a Q&A with Jarmusch, Aaron Brookner, filmmaker Tom DiCillo, and Burroughs’s friend and fellow writer James Grauerholz
* Thirty-minute experimental edit of the film from 1981 by inventor and photographer Robert E. Fulton III
* PLUS: An essay by critic Luc Sante and collage artwork by artist Alison Mosshart