I saw the premiere of this film tonight at the USA Film Festival in Dallas, Texas. Prior to this movie, I knew very little about William Burroughs. The producer, Donald Zuckerman spoke before the showing. He explained that after the film's showing at the Cannes Film Festival, they decided to completely re-edit the movie. As a result, the final film print of this movie was not finished for our festival(or compatible with our theater). As a result, we viewed the movie in the theater on a VHS video projected on the screen with a LCD projector and two speakers (on stands) set up on each side of the screen. The producer took some questions before the movie began and stated that the film was closely based on actual factual events. He stated that they did not use "one" specific source (or screenplay) but accumulated the facts from many verifiable sources. Mr. Zuckerman stated that all the scenes were filmed at the actual locations where they took place. The Mexico apartment footage was filmed at the actual location where William Burrough's and his wife Joan lived. The film makers used the apartment across the street because the actual apartment had been demolished.
I enjoyed the movie immensely. There were some initial distracting sound problems, but you won't have these in a normal showing. After the audio problems were fixed, I was glued to the screen. The movie begins and ends during the period before the group of friends became famous. Keifer Sutherland, Courtney Love, Ron Livingston, and Norman Reedus all did a superb job in their performances. Courtney Love was amazing and captivating in her role of Joan Villmer.
Anyone interested or just curious about William Burroughs or the Beat era should definitely see this movie. I gave it a nine.
I enjoyed the movie immensely. There were some initial distracting sound problems, but you won't have these in a normal showing. After the audio problems were fixed, I was glued to the screen. The movie begins and ends during the period before the group of friends became famous. Keifer Sutherland, Courtney Love, Ron Livingston, and Norman Reedus all did a superb job in their performances. Courtney Love was amazing and captivating in her role of Joan Villmer.
Anyone interested or just curious about William Burroughs or the Beat era should definitely see this movie. I gave it a nine.