Burroughs

Like any other curious reader, this movie searches its way for an entry point into the life and mind of beat author William Burroughs. "Burroughs: The Movie"-which was filmed by director Howard Brookner over a period of five years, first exhibited in the early 1980s, and is only now getting a restored release onto home video, courtesy of the Criterion Collection-first has the appearance of a magazine-program profile-piece. There are close-ups of the book covers, and interviews with friends, and footage of Burroughs at his most user-friendly. (We see him on "Saturday Night Live"). But then Brookner chooses to eschew timelines and biographical narratives. He lets Burrough's words and body handle the storytelling for him.

Numerous luminaries of the era pop in and out of the frame. Allen Ginsberg! Patti Smith! Terry Southern! But the film is neither a collection of talking heads nor a narrated-by-celebrities life story. Brookner's editing skips its way through numerous short clips, all of which relate back directly to one of Burrough's works or experiences: there are live readings, conversations with friends, statements made directly to the camera, television appearances (rare though they are), and even dramatic recreations of his prose. Eventually the very rhythms of his prose begin to seep into the film's structure. Longueurs begin to intrude with more regularity-scenes of Burroughs driving, or simply standing. Constant in his demeanor, he's unflappable, an oak tree. This movie tries to let us lean up against him.

Criterion's Blu-ray release of the recently-restored film brings with it a number of extras that allow creative types to reminisce about both Burroughs and "Burroughs: The Movie." For starters, there's director Jim Jarmusch, who worked as a sound recorder on the film. He offers an audio commentary track over the entire feature-often recalling footage and experiences that didn't make it into the final cut-and also makes an appearance in a filmed question-and-answer session from a recent festival screening of the movie. (Also at that Q&A: Tom DiCillo, filmmaker Aaron Brookner, and longtime Burroughs associate James Grauerholz.) Both of the Brookner's also get their own interview time: Aaron (who supervised the restoration) speaks about the movie's long journey to a 'wide release,' while an interview with Howard (filmed in 1985) allows the director to speak about his relationship with the author and the form of his film.

However, if you're here for "Burroughs: The Movie," then you want some more footage of William S. Burroughs. There's an "experimental edit" of the movie, for one. It runs for about 25 minutes-that arranges Brookner's footage in a manner that's more closely related to the rambling nature of Burrough's verbiage. (This version was edited by "inventor/photographer" Robert Fulton.) And, most importantly, Criterion has obtained and included more than an hour of "outtakes" from the film. They are not edited in the same rhythm of the feature film, but instead often offer uninterrupted sequences of conversation: one gem even sees Allen Ginsburg speaking with Burroughs, at great lengths, about literature-even Shakespeare. You feel you get to know something of Burroughs, watching him let his guard down among these men. You get what you came for.

"Burroughs: The Movie"
Blu-ray
Criterion.com
$39.95