Burroughs: The Movie

Howard Brookner's 1983 documentary covers the writer William S. Burroughs across five years of filming. Brookner began it while a student at New York University and built his crew from friends: Jim Jarmusch recorded the sound and Tom DiCillo was one of the cinematographers. The documentary addresses not only Burroughs's writing but the heavy events of his life. His shooting and killing of his wife Joan Vollmer, his relationship with his son and his periods of addiction are all discussed openly. Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith, Francis Bacon and Terry Southern join the account. The film was out of circulation for years; Brookner died in 1989 and the prints were lost. His nephew Aaron Brookner found a print in 2011 and set the restoration in motion, making the documentary available again. Who it's for: those interested in the Beat generation and in literary documentary. Who it's not for: viewers who want to avoid the violence and addiction in the writer's life; the film places both at its centre.