William S. Burroughs: A Man Within

Last updated
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
William S. Burroughs A Man Within movie poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byYony Leyser
Written byYony Leyser
Produced byCarmine Cervi
Scott Crary
Ilko Davidov
Yony Leyser
Starring
Distributed by Oscilloscope Laboratories
Release date
  • November 17, 2010 (2010-11-17)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

William S. Burroughs: A Man Within is a 2010 independent American documentary film directed by Yony Leyser about William S. Burroughs, featuring previously unreleased footage and interviews with his friends and colleagues.

Contents

The film uses archival footage and interviews with John Waters, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Gus Van Sant, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Sonic Youth, Laurie Anderson, Amiri Baraka, Jello Biafra, and David Cronenberg. The film is narrated by Peter Weller, with a soundtrack by Patti Smith and Sonic Youth. [1]

History

The conception of William S. Burroughs: A Man Within started in Lawrence, Kansas in 2005. Director Yony Leyser was expelled from CalArts and moved to Kansas. Leyser wrote an article, "From Beatnik to Anarchist: Radical Eruptions in Lawrence." [2] He mentioned Burroughs in the article, got in touch with people from the estate, and then met several of Burroughs' friends. [3]

Leyser also derived material from James Grauerholz. To Burroughs, Grauerholz had been "his fan, his live-in boyfriend, his otherwise-romantically-coupled secretary and friend, his tour booker and road manager, his personal editor, etc, etc.." [4]

Leyser collected material by interviewing friends of Burroughs, and people who had been inspired by him.

Release

The film was released on Adam Yauch's Oscilloscope Pictures. [1] It premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in Utah, [5] and has been featured on PBS Independent Lens . [6]

Critical reception

The film was a Critic's Pick of The New York Times ; Stephen Holden says, "“A Man Within” is embellished with scratchy line drawing that evokes Burroughs’s skeletal vision of humanity. There is not a word or image wasted in a documentary you wish ran an extra half-hour beyond its condensed 90 minutes." [7]

John Anderson of Variety writes, "Leyser is clearly a Burroughs acolyte, and he taps into the man's sensibility: The abstract stop-motion animation by Aimee Goguen and Dillon Markey creates aptly crazy interludes between interviews and archival bits, which include avant-garde movies Burroughs made when was a relative youth (even if he never quite looked like one). There is a wealth of anecdotal material. Like his subject, Leyser strives to disengage from the conventional, while still being lucid. He succeeds admirably." [8]

Sheri Linden of the Los Angeles Times says, "Digging for psychological understanding, Leyser doesn't parse the literary work itself, letting recordings of Burroughs suffice — not a bad decision..." and calls the film an "intimate and moving portrait it paints." [9]

V.A. Musetto of the New York Post calls the film "reverential and entertaining," and notes that the film includes previously unseen and rare footage from VHS tapes donated by William S. Burrough's friends. [10]

"Offers a concise summary of Burroughs' life and works. Maybe too concise. At a mere 88 minutes, it feels a bit glancing. But as an introduction or refresher course, it gets the job done," writes Keith Phipps, of the Onion's A.V. Club. [11] He rated the film a B−, while the overall community rating at the A.V. Club is an A.

Bill Stamets of the Chicago Sun-Times gave William S. Burroughs: A Man Within three stars. [12]

William Fowler of Sight and Sound magazine says, "Formally and structurally conventional, this documentary is also rich, compelling and filled with reflections that are both articulate and emotionally sensitive." [13]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 88% of 17 critics' reviews are positive.. [14]

Awards

William S. Burroughs: A Man Within won the Van Gogh Award for Best Biography, Amsterdam International Film Festival, the Netherlands, along with the Gold Kahuna Award, Honolulu International Film Festival, Hawaii. [15] The film was named as one of 2010's top 10 movies by Sight and Sound Magazine. [13]

The film was an Official Selection at the 2010 Chicago International Movies and Music Festival, the Sao Paul International Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival, the Sarasota Film Festival, the Maryland Film Festival, the Vienna International Film Festival, and the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. [16]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is by Sonic Youth and Patti Smith. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William S. Burroughs</span> American writer and visual artist (1914–1997)

William Seward Burroughs II was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular culture and literature. Burroughs wrote eighteen novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections of essays, and five books have been published of his interviews and correspondences; he was initially briefly known by the pen name William Lee. He also collaborated on projects and recordings with numerous performers and musicians, made many appearances in films, and created and exhibited thousands of visual artworks, including his celebrated "shotgun art".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thurston Moore</span> American guitarist (born 1958)

Thurston Joseph Moore is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moore was ranked 34th in Rolling Stone's 2004 edition of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

<i>Naked Lunch</i> (film) 1991 film by David Cronenberg

Naked Lunch is a 1991 surrealist science fiction drama film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, and Roy Scheider. It is an adaptation of William S. Burroughs's 1959 novel Naked Lunch, and an international co-production of Canada, Britain, and Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Vollmer</span> Member of the Beat Generation cultural movement

Joan Vollmer was an influential participant in the early Beat Generation circle. While a student at Barnard College, she became the roommate of Edie Parker. Their apartment became a gathering place for the Beats during the 1940s, where Vollmer was often at the center of marathon, all-night discussions. In 1946, she began a relationship with William S. Burroughs, later becoming his common-law wife. In 1951, Burroughs killed Vollmer. He claimed, and shortly thereafter denied, the killing was a drunken attempt at playing William Tell.

<i>Queer</i> (novel) Novel by William S. Burroughs

Queer is a 1985 novella by American author William S. Burroughs. It is partially a sequel to his 1953 novella Junkie.

James Grauerholz is a writer and editor. He is the bibliographer and literary executor of the estate of William S. Burroughs.

<i>And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks</i> 1945 novel by Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs

And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks is a novel by Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. It was written in 1945, a full decade before the two authors became famous as leading figures of the Beat Generation, and remained unpublished in complete form until 2008.

<i>Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story</i> 2006 American documentary

Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story is an American documentary about Megumi Yokota, a Japanese student who was abducted by a North Korean agent in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Crary</span> American film director

Scott Crary is an American film director, producer and writer, best known for having directed, produced, filmed and edited the film Kill Your Idols, a documentary examining three decades of New York art punk bands.

<i>Dead City Radio</i> 1990 studio album by William S. Burroughs

Dead City Radio is a musical album by Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs, released by Island Records in 1990. The CD is a collection of readings by Burroughs set to a broad range of musical compositions. It was produced by Hal Willner and Nelson Lyon, with musical accompaniment from John Cale, Donald Fagen, Lenny Pickett, Chris Stein, alternative rock band Sonic Youth, and the NBC Symphony Orchestra, among others. It was dedicated to "Keith Haring, at the Apocalypse."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bachir Attar</span> Moroccan musician

Bachir Attar is a Moroccan musician and the leader of The Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar. He is the son of Hadj Abdesalam Attar, who led the group Master Musicians of Jajouka at the time of their album, Brian Jones Presents The Pipes of Pan at Jajouka, produced by Brian Jones in 1968.

The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg is a 1993 film by Jerry Aronson chronicling the poet Allen Ginsberg's life up to that point, along with his views on death; Ginsberg was in his mid 60s when the movie was first released, and died at age 70. The film has been completed and released a number of times due to changing technologies and world events. The first release of the film was in 1993 at the Sundance Film Festival after which it enjoyed an international festival run and USA theatrical run. When Aronson showed him the film the poet is reported to have nodded his head thoughtfully and said, "So, that's Allen Ginsberg."

<i>Words of Advice: William S. Burroughs on the Road</i> 2007 Danish film

Words of Advice: William S. Burroughs on the Road, is a 2007 documentary about William S. Burroughs directed by Lars Movin and Steen Møller Rasmussen and produced in Denmark. The documentary is based on never-before-seen footage from his visit to Denmark in October 1983, and from his later years in Lawrence, Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Brookner</span> American film director

Howard Brookner was an American film director. He produced and directed the documentary Burroughs about William S. Burroughs (1983), Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars on theatre director Robert Wilson (1986), and directed, co-produced and co-wrote Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989).

Lotuspool Records is an American independent record label formed in 1992 in Lawrence, Kansas by musicians Chris Garibaldi and Matt Hyde. The company was named after a horse Garibaldi and Hyde bet on when having a business meeting on the lawn of Arlington National Raceway. Lotuspool's stable of artists includes Zoom, Panel Donor, Bully Pulpit, Suneaters, and The Weightmen. In 2012, the year of Lotuspool's 20th anniversary, Lotuspool moved to change music distribution by offering all Lotuspool albums for free download and streaming.

<i>Burroughs</i> (film) 1983 American film

Burroughs is a 1983 documentary film directed by Howard Brookner about the Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs.

<i>Kidnapped for Christ</i> 2014 American film

Kidnapped for Christ is a documentary film that details the experiences of several teenagers who were removed from their homes and sent to a behavior modification and ex-gay school in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic. The film was directed by Kate Logan. Tom DeSanto, Lance Bass and Mike Manning are the executive producers.

<i>Uncle Howard</i> 2016 American film

Uncle Howard is a 2016 documentary film about filmmaker Howard Brookner directed by Aaron Brookner.

Aaron Brookner is an American film director and scriptwriter. His debut feature film was The Silver Goat (2011), the first feature film made for iPad exhibition. He produced the restoration of cult classic Burroughs, directed by Howard Brookner, which was re-released by The Criterion Collection. His film Uncle Howard was selected as part of the US Documentary Competition at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Yony Leyser is a director and writer based in Berlin.

References

  1. 1 2 "Oscilloscope.net". Oscilloscope.net. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
  2. ↑ http://www.kansan.com/news/2005/apr/27/features_kulture/ [ dead link ]
  3. ↑ Spacek, Nick (2010-05-07). "Our full interview with Yony Leyser | Wayward Blog". Pitch.com. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
  4. ↑ Joravsky, Ben (28 August 2009). "William Burroughs, Unabridged | Our Town". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
  5. ↑ "Slamdance Film Festival 2010 : William S. Burroughs: A Man within". Archived from the original on 2010-01-27. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  6. ↑ "William S. Burroughs: A Man Within | Documentary | Independent Lens". PBS. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
  7. ↑ Holden, Stephen (2010-11-16). "'William S. Burroughs: A Man Within' - Review". The New York Times .
  8. ↑ "William S. Burroughs: A Man Within". www.variety.com. 28 January 2010. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  9. ↑ Sheri Linden (2010-11-25). "Movie review: 'William S. Burroughs: A Man Within' - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  10. ↑ V.A. Musetto (2010-11-16). "'William S. Burroughs: A Man Within' movie is a rebel without a pause". NYPOST.com. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
  11. ↑ Phipps, Keith (2010-11-11). "William S. Burroughs: A Man Within". The A.V. Club . Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  12. ↑ "Art-house films: 'A Man Within,' 'Dissolution' and more". Chicago Sun-Times . Suntimes.com. Archived from the original on 2013-09-13. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  13. 1 2 "2010 in review: The full poll". Archived from the original on February 8, 2012. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  14. ↑ "William S. Burroughs: A Man Within". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  15. ↑ "Bulletproof Film | Just another WordPress site".
  16. ↑ "Welcome - William S. Burroughs: A Man Within". Burroughsthemovie.com. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
  17. ↑ "Sonic Youth, Patti Smith Soundtrack William S. Burroughs Documentary | News". Pitchfork. 2010-06-03. Retrieved 2013-03-12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.