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Synopsis

Commissioner of Sewers combines interview and archival material, paintings, and clips of William S. Burroughs' film appearances (including Decoder and Gus Van Zant's Drugstore Cowboy and Thanksgiving Prayer) with footage from Burroughs' last European reading in Berlin on May 9th, 1986 to create a witty and intriguing portrait of the man described by Norman Mailer as "the only American novelist living today who may conceivably be possessed by genius." In an extensive conversation with author Jurgen Ploog, Burroughs discusses his many preoccupations, including the word as virus, death and dreams, travel in time and space, and the cut-up and fold-in methods which he used extensively in his early novels and which have become commonplace in advertising, film and music. Commissioner of Sewers is an essential and entertaining document for any viewer or reader who wants to know more about the ‘father of the Beat Generation’ and author of some of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, including Exterminator, The Place of Dead Roads, and Naked Lunch.