Educational Media Reviews Online

The "words of advice" in the title of this new profile of beat generation éminence gris William S. Burroughs seem to refer to Burroughs' hilariously scabrous prose-poem "Words of Advice for Young People" ("Do not offer sympathy to the mentally ill. Tell them firmly, 'I am not paid to listen to this drivel. You are a terminal fool.'"). At one point in the film, Burroughs does read a few lines from that work in his inimitable, laconic, creaky-hinge voice. Beyond that, however, there's very little connection between the promising title and what is actually delivered in this misbegotten hash of biography, hip hagiography, tepid psychedelic visuals, irrelevant archival clips, and excerpts from Burroughs readings. Danish filmmakers Movin and Moller Rasmussen are obviously in awe of Burroughs, and they've done their basic biographical homework. There's something particularly endearing about the frequently goofy and slightly off-kilter perspective Europeans bring to their vast admiration of American pop culture and cultural icons (think Jerry Lewis and the French). It's also true that the film is not without its interesting segments: the ramble around Burroughs' improbably bucolic, late-life home in Lawrence Kansas is particularly engaging, and the discussion of Burroughs as an early performance/multimedia artists is also worth thinking about. The 1983 Burroughs reading in Copenhagen that forms the core of this documentary and which is included in its near-entirety as a supplement on the DVD is almost worth the price of admission. While it's clear that Movin and Moller Rasmussen have their hearts in the right place, it's just that, well, they seem to be totally clueless about effective documentary structure and editing strategies. As a consequence, their film lurches all over the place—sort of like spending time with Burroughs during one of his afternoon vodka and coke, and maryjane repasts. With most of the founders of beat—Ginsberg, Kerouac, Corso—gone hitching down the Big Road in the Sky, the filmmakers have relied on second-stringers (such as fairly late Burroughs collaborator John Giorno, and a couple of unfamiliar academics) to bear talking head witness. Definitely not the stuff of compelling biography.

So, here are MY words of advice: despite the rather egregious current lack of decent Burroughs film biographies out there, it's still best to avoid this particular scattershot attempt like a Burroughsian viral plague. For the hipsters, punks, boho nostalgists, academics, and curious straight citizens out there clamoring for performance footage and biographical insights about old WSB, a much more satisfying route to take would be to ferret these out in one or more of the several serviceable docs on the beat generation or on beat luminaries (Chuck Workman's The Source and Jerry Aronson's excellent The Life & Times of Allen Ginsberg come to mind). Movin and Moller Rasmussen have made heavy use of clips from the early "cut-up" experimental films made by Burroughs in collaboration with Brion Gysin and Anthony Balch in the 1960s. These films are, fortunately, also currently available on DVD and a much better choice for spending the collection development nickel.