User reviews

Based on the short story by Burroughs or the same name this is a short clay-mation released by Francis Ford Copolla.

Narrated by Burroughs, we follow Danny a junk sick and broke bum on his aimless wanderings to find that christmas fix, his eyes are sting and all he can feel is the raw ache in his bones, only the warming rush of Junk will make his at ease. Severed leg's, drunk Doctors and and a 1/4 grain all go into making this a superb little tale that every family should gather round come christmas morning.

With a small scene during Thanksgiving at Burrough's house tagged on the end (he slices the Turkey with a switchblade) it's a worthy way of spending 22 mins over and over again.

Mind you, if you hate Burroughs and his life, you might hate this. But I've yet to see an animated or clay animation feature that captures the spirit of Christ and Christmas more than this, and that of course was Burroughs', and Matthew's, point. Jesus and Mary were low- lives, carrying an illegitimate child, with no place to stay for the night. Burrgoughs draws the parallels very clearly with Danny the Car Wiper's own quest. The technical execution of the clay animation is a treat and the hip hop soundtrack succeeds in creating the urban atmosphere. I have looked all over the world to find this on DVD or a new VHS, with no luck. Why has it not been re-released?!

First let me say I am a huge fan of good claymation, and the claymation here is pretty damn cool. It has a gritty noir feel that not only suites the story but is interesting in its own right. But that's not to say it's purely a noir exercise in 'grittt for gritty's sake"; the mood isn't oppressive or ridiculously bleak but finds the right balance between down-and-out blues and solemn observation and curiosity. It's imaginatively rendered and has some nice moments.

Now on to the not so good: the film is narrated by William Burroughs, but not in a way that at all lends itself to the visuals. He simply reads his short story word for word, and since there are no sound effects or voices to accompany the claymation it really distracts the viewer from the visuals. It's pretty pointless, as he is reading descriptions of things as we are seeing them. Nothing he reads couldn't have been conveyed with sound effects or dialogue, or even some creative inner-dialogue. It would have been far more interesting to follow the main character in this way, but with the narration it didn't let the story unfold, and it wouldn't let the animation tell the story visually (if you're at all familiar with how an animated movie can be effective you know this is a huge problem).

The claymation would have been that much more vivid if it had been matched to some sound effects, or even some good music, but that's yet another point of contention: the music for the most part is jingly Christmas music, which doesn't fit the animation AT ALL. If anything it could be seen as an ironic choice, but it's used too seriously and for much too long; even a clichéd beatnik jazz soundtrack would have been an improvement.

All in all I was pretty impressed with the animation, but the use of soundtrack really marred this little movie for me.

William S. Burroughs spent his career writing about bizarre and disturbing things. His books "Junky" and "Naked Lunch" both dealt with drug usage. "The Junky's Christmas" is a short story about a man trying to get money for his next dosage of heroin. The mixture of Christmas songs and hip hop - with Burroughs narrating - adds to the surreal feeling. I haven't read Burroughs's original work, so I can only say that this is one weird short (of course, weird stuff was Burroughs's forte). OK, if only once.