The Junky’s Christmas (USA, 1993) 21 min B&W DIR: Nick Donkin, Melodie McDaniel. SCR: James Grauerholz, based on a story by William S. Burroughs. PROD: Francis Ford Coppola, Francine McDougall. MUSIC: Hal Willner. DOP: Simon Higgins, Wyatt Troll. CAST: William S. Burroughs (narrator).
The film opens with author William S. Burroughs rifling through his bookshelf, finding his own copy of Interzone (in which the original story for the movie is collected) and sitting down by the Christmas tree to read. This image alone is jarring enough- Burroughs the legendary underground anti-hero at the age of 75 (didn’t he always look 75?) turning into Jimmy Stewart?!? There is a low-angle shot of his condor-shaped profile looking whimsical standing beside the tree, and right away we are wondering what kind of perverse wholesomeness is being provided us? Has the collusion of mainstream and underground finally gone too far? Who would imagine that a tale from the Bard of Benzedrine would be presented to the screen by Francis Ford Coppola?
Once the grandfatherly Burroughs settles down into his easy chair, and his crystalline talons turn the hard pages, we dissolve from this natural world into a twenty-minute black-and-white claymation short, as he narrates for us the pathetic efforts of a dope fiend trying to score on Christmas Day. What surprises here is not the junkie’s change of heart in the end. Rather, this celluloid trip is more valuable for documenting a part of the world on December 25th that has seldom been realized for cinema. In other words, there is no Capra-esque fantasy of George Bailey running down the street, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas as potato flakes of snow fall to the ground. Instead this is about the lonely people sleeping on the street that your sedan passes by as you go visit your folks.
Usually the work of Burroughs is a Dadaist science fiction nightmare in which the author can run wild with his ideas and satiric metaphor. It is rare to see a Burroughs piece (and admittedly a short one) in which the characters are real people, presented matter-of-factly, for us not to judge, nor for him to celebrate, but merely for us to understand. Although we may not think that the people scoring crack outside my office are human beings underneath, but that matter is easily forgotten when we have to clean all the pipes and prophylactics off of the back step. In other words, The Junky’s Christmas is presenting an ugly world that, surprisingly, has its own moral code.
Originally published in slightly different form in Vol. #1, Issue #4, as part of the “Whacked Out Christmas Movies” section.
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.