William S. Burroughs’ – The Junky’s Christmas
(Francis Ford Coppola Presents)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D Films: C+
Francis Ford Coppola Presents
William S. Burroughs’ The Junky’s Christmas is a new DVD that also includes two bonus films Ironbound and Traveling Light. The first
film is a Claymation feature that is narrated by the author. The Claymation tale depicts a story that was
written by the author in 1952. The story
follows a troubled man who was just released from prison in the dead of winter
in west side Manhattan. With nothing
going for him he searches for his next fix on a cold, cold Christmas Day. The story is deep and engaging in its
blue/gray scale format. The darkness of
the short story inspired clay film combined with the great art direction makes
for an interesting viewing. The end of
the drug induced film being possibly the most interesting segment.
The other
two short films are not quite as good as the main feature but have their
merits. Ironbound centers on the working class of a dark world and utilizes
the music of Joe Jackson to emphasize the deep tale. The second bonus film, Traveling Light, features music by the classic Van Morrison and
originally aired in 1998 on the cable network Bravo! The film mainly centers on a variety of
landscapes and is somewhat forgettable.
The
technical aspects of this DVD are not great but not horrible. The films all exemplify a certain degree of
intended grittiness, but the 1.33 X 1 Full Screen presentation has light/dark
issues and even gets somewhat blurry at times.
The sound in its Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo format has certain qualities
that leave a distant sound in certain scenes. No extras exist on this set.
Overall,
the title film is gritty and great.
- Michael P Dougherty II
