Antony Balch — Director (4)
Bill and Tony (1972) [Movie] Douban
director: Antony Balch
William Burroughs and Antony Balch are seated next to each other, looking directly at the camera. Their dialogue goes something like, "I'm Tony, who are you? I'm Bill. Where are you Tony? I'm in London, where are you? I'm in a 1920s movie, Tony." First Bill speaks Tony's lines, then later the entire dialogue is repeated with the correct people speaking the lines. It is repeated again later with Bill's dialogue playing while Tony's lips move and vice versa. There are other permutations as well.
In between these scenes are shots of Burroughs and Balch sitting alone staring at the camera. They are dressed so that their heads seem to be floating in black space. Burroughs recites what might be some sort of Scientology ritual (he flirted with it for a time) about getting a "pre-clear" to imagine himself out of his head using pushing and pulling bars (?). Balch quotes some dialogue from the movie Freaks (a film which he was successful in finally getting past the British censors for distribution in the UK). Later, Burroughs appears again, but Balch speaks his lines about preclears. Likewise, when Balch reappears alone, Burroughs quotes from Freaks.
The Cut Ups (1966) [Movie] Douban TMDB IMDb
The Cut-Ups
director: Antony Balch actor: 威廉·S·伯勒斯 / Brion Gysin
other title: The Cut-Ups
Essentially a dizzying montage of quirky shots of legendary Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs and noted surrealist artist Brion Gysin, this nearly 20 minute avant-garde short features repeated articulations of such random things as "Hello," "Where are we now?," and "Look at that picture" instead of music or standard dialogue. The narrative is decidedly nonlinear and perplexing, with no discernible plot whatsoever as we see images of Gysin working on his paintings and calligraphic designs and Burroughs rummaging through draws, packing a suitcase, giving a young man a physical, making a call in a phone booth, and waiting on a platform for a subway train.