William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
Oscilloscope Laboratories | Release Date: November 17, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Boxoffice MagazinePam GradyNov 13, 2010
Leyser has done his job with this, his first feature, burnishing Burroughs' legend and making manifest the enormous shadow he still casts over writers and artists of all stripe. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisMar 10, 2011
The film is never dull. And director Yony Leyser has come up with an ending that will take your breath away. Burroughs would probably be proud. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrFeb 3, 2011
A breezily stylized, very enjoyable trot through the writer's life, theme by theme, era by era. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyNov 27, 2010
A well-made but overly idolizing documentary. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenNov 27, 2010
"A Man Within" won't be the last word on Burroughs, who died in 1997, but it's a welcome addition to the biographical canon - less as clear-eyed investigation than for the intimate and moving portrait it paints. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen HoldenNov 16, 2010
It is all either blood-chilling or hilarious. For those who celebrate Burroughs as one of the darkest and greatest of all comic artists, he is an extreme social satirist of Swiftian stature, whose quasi-pornographic images offer a stark, ghastly/funny photonegative image of the American body politic. Read full review
70
Village VoiceNick PinkertonNov 16, 2010
Leyser's collation of interviews and stock footage is polished enough to effectively perpetuate the Burroughs legend. Read full review
70
VarietyJohn AndersonNov 13, 2010
There is a wealth of anecdotal material. Like his subject, Leyser strives to disengage from the conventional, while still being lucid. He succeeds admirably. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsNov 13, 2010
Offers a concise summary of Burroughs' life and works. Maybe too concise. At a mere 88 minutes, it feels a bit glancing. But as an introduction or refresher course, it gets the job done. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckNov 18, 2010
Contains enough fascinating archival footage to make it worthy of interest. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNov 19, 2010
The author of "Naked Lunch" and his words were funny, freaky and sometimes just Out There. Yet as "there" became "here," Leyser shows, Burroughs seemed to be everywhere. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid FearNov 16, 2010
Reducing an influential genius to a bohemian Zelig with a firearm fetish misses the forest for the flaming metal trees; in Leyser's biographical interzone, the superficial trumps the truly subversive. Read full review
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