William S. Burroughs: A Man Within

2010
7.1| 1h28m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 05 November 2010 Released
Producted By: Oscilloscope
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.williamsburroughsthemovie.com/
Info

A riveting and emotional journey into the world of writer William S. Burroughs, a man considered as cold as an iceberg on a winter night.

Genre

Documentary

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William S. Burroughs: A Man Within (2010) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Yony Leyser

Production Companies

Oscilloscope

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William S. Burroughs: A Man Within Audience Reviews

Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!
Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
gavin6942 William S. Burroughs: featuring never before seen footage as well as exclusive interviews with his closest friends and colleagues...I was never huge into Burroughs, though my respect for the man was high, and he touched so much -- the beat generation, the hippies, the punks. Countless movies and bands were influenced by him, so we all owe him a debt even if we never heard of him. When I was a teenager, I explored Brion Gysin and Throbbing Gristle and other things and I am impressed to see that everything I thought was cool was all a part of Burroughs' world.Most interesting of all was Peter Weller, who appears and also narrates. When you think Burroughs, you do not think Weller. I mean, sure, he was in "Naked Lunch", but beyond that? And here we learn about Weller, his drug experiments and more. A guy known mainly for being "RoboCop" has quite an interesting personal life, it seems.
spataa When I heard about the new documentary about William Burroughs I was pretty excited . Over the years I read many of the popular books including the reader , listened to the spoken word material and watched many of the short films and movies he appeared in . I thought I had a pretty good grasp of his work . However , I didn't know what a treat I was really in for when I walked in the the Denver premier of this very well directed and produced film . I found the insight that many of the friends and colleague opened my thought process on his work opened so much wider and I have a deeper understanding of the man and his work . Showing a time line from childhood to death and his life process was amazing . Seeing so much footage from performance to everyday life was great . He is still a voice and lighthouse in counter culture . I was so grateful for many of the interviews with his friends as they were very insightful and very personal . If you are fan of the man , have just found out about him or just heard that this was a good film you have to see this one . You won't be disappointed , so check it out and pass on the good word.
cuthebull Most insightful look into this multi dimensional brilliant, troubled, and troubling writer, as his friends, artists, fans, ex-lovers, experienced him, took from him, and gave him. His bizarre as well as very humane sides are are depicted in very thoughtful, some moving, interviews by John Waters, Genesis o'porridge, Patti Smith, Peter Weller,Iggi Pop, Laurie Anderson, and many other artists who were fascinated by his original, pattern- breaking style. Some interviews had to do with Burroughs daring, resilient character as he dared to confront the world of the 50's as a queer, who stripped the veil of hypocrisy from society before and during the Vietnam era with a piercing writing style. While observing himself become a hopeless addict, he was able to address his addiction as a metaphor for society's maladies in some transcending way... Killing his wife, Not being able to emotionally connect with his troubled son, fearful of love, he was described by genesis as "a sad man". This is the first Documentary depicting Burroughs as the complex man he was, defying every and any category of affiliation...meticulously done, a master-piece you want to watch more than once...
dalefried Expectations often drive us. The expectation of full-boat tickets to film festivals like the one recently in Sarasota is that you get to go where you please and when. Once there, you have expectations that some films, based on your predilections, will entice you more than others. Such was the case for my anticipation of the William S Burroughs documentary that I had heard nothing about before it showing up in the SFF playbill. This guy was at least an anti-hero to any wierdster like myself who matured from the late 1950's to the early 1970's. But how to present such a life of what may be one of the most unrepresentable individuals from the 20th Century.And from a first time filmmaker who was likely enjoying his Captain Crunch the morning the world learned of this infamous man's passing. How could Yony Leyser possibly know and appreciate an at best unknowable enigma from the weird subdivision in boomer-town's hall of fame.What you get, fortunately, is a film that may tear through the fabric of any experienced viewers strategies on figuring out what beguiles them while viewing. Burroughs was so unpurposely misunderstood by default that he fits into a category of his own unconscious making. At best, I expected, in Burroughs' own words from the film, an 'unprecise' 'approximation' of the man whose infamy, in so many ways, took on a mass far, if not infinitely, greater than the addicted, queer, paranoid, but always genteel man he may have been … maybe.In presentation, the film explodes past expectations of standard documentary forms like some kind of mutation that I think Burroughs would have loved. The formula, whatever it may be, affects in ways that award winning Alex Gibney did not capture nearly as evocatively in his screed on another modern hipster icon of excess, Hunter S Thompson. Throughout, the style contests your expectations in expansive ways you likely have not experienced. The always artistic, multi-textural presentation cannot possibly, as Burroughs life, be seen in one viewing. This is not unique in documentaries. What may be unique, however, is that other than those IMAX explorations of nature and beyond, the film may be the one documentary that demands to be seen in as big a venue as possible so you may best swim in its excesses and nuances. If the film gets enough attention beyond festivals to be considered award worthy, they may have to invent a category.In judgment, it has that feel of a discovery found on a fairly long trail of enticing experiences with an array of individuals who had the privilege of hanging with the man for any length of time. What you may be witnessing is an education similar to Candide's travels with the Dr. Pangloss that Burroughs was to so many. What better possible vision of Burrough's world could there be! In the end, one is left with the ultimate contradiction of that dead pan voice from the man in his perennial three piece evoking provoking prose that leaves vapor trails in the aether of your mind in those places where it may resonate for days, confounding.As is should be. As it will be. As it is.Thank you, Mr. Leyser for dedicating five years of your young life to this adventure. It was well worth it.