Naked Lunch18

Directed by David Cronenberg | Canada | 1991 | 1h 55m (+ 20min short film) | Starring Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Julian Sands, Roy Scheider, Monique Mercure

Bug exterminator Bill Lee discovers that the insecticide he uses has potent hallucinogenic effects. After becoming deeply addicted, Bill descends into the nightmarish Interzone, a bizarre underworld filled with sinister government conspiracies and giant, talking insects. Equal parts darkly humorous and grotesque, cult filmmaker David Cronenberg (The Fly, Videodrome, Crash) brings to life this surreal adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ hallucinatory novel, once considered impossible to film.

Naked Lunch will be preceded by a special presentation of Kōji Yamamura’s short film Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor (2007).

Reviews

‘Obviously this is not everybody’s cup of weird tea: you must have a taste for the aesthetics of disgust. For those up to the dare, it’s one clammily compelling movie.’
David Ansen, Newsweek

Sorry - you missed it!

We showed Naked Lunch between October 21, 2024 and October 25, 2024.

Join our mailing list and we'll make sure you always know what's on and when.

What else is on?

Today (Thursday 17th September)

15:30

Lady 15
1h 35m
Self-described "aristocracy's answer to the Kardashians", Lady Isabella has everything but loneliness to fill. When a filmmaker arrives to document her estate, her hunger for attention takes a strange turn. Sian Clifford (Fleabag) stars in this riotous mockumentary.

Book here

18:00

Teenage Sex & Death at Camp Mias 15
1h 52m
Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow) unleashes a bloody, bewildering meta-horror, as a young director and a reclusive scream queen descend into a delirious world of queer desire, fear and blood-soaked obsession. Starring Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson.

Book here

20:30

Bitter Christmas 15
1h 51m | Spanish w/ English subtitles
Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film is a sun-dappled exploration of life, art and storytelling, as two filmmakers’ lives intertwine in a playful meditation on memory, creativity and the blurred boundaries between reality and fiction.

Book here


Tomorrow (Friday 18th September)

14:45

De Gaulle: Résistance 15
2h 38m | French w/ English subtitles
June 1940: France has fallen. Army general Charles de Gaulle refuses to accept defeat, fleeing to London to rally resistance. Simon Russell Beale plays Churchill in this internationally cast first chapter of Antonin Baudry's two-part historical epic. x§

Book here

18:15

Trainspotting 18
1h 34m
Danny Boyle’s electrifying adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s cult novel remains a visceral portrait of addiction, alienation and self-destruction. Back on the big screen for the film's 30th anniversary, Trainspotting is as exhilarating, darkly comic and provocative as ever.

Book here

20:30

I Want Your Sex 18
1h 30m
Cooper Hoffman and Olivia Wilde star in Gregg Araki’s (Mysterious Skin) wickedly satirical comedy about sex, obsession and power. When a young man becomes an artist’s sexual muse, his dream job takes a dark and dangerous turn.

Book here


Plan your visit

Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road.We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We only show a few adverts – less than most cinemas – and we only play a couple of trailers, so please don’t be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!