An Evening with Charles Bukowski

Written and directed by Matteo Borgardt
Featuring Charles Bukowski, Linda Lee Beighle and Silvia Bizio
Running time: 52 minutes
Unrated-Contains smoking, drinking, general potty-mouth and discussions of sex

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

I was introduced to Charles Bukowski’s work in the mid-to-late nineties. It was just shortly after his death. I’d heard plenty about his foul language and dirty sex stories, but I’d also heard he was a soulful poet. I’d been reading a lot of Kerouac and Burroughs in those years and he sounded like a good fit. The first thing I ever read of his was his last completed novel, Pulp. As I was walking through my local bookstore, it was on the endcap as a staff pick. Twenty-five years and the majority of his bibliography later, I think it was a great place to start. With Buk in his later years looking back at his life, it contextualized a lot of the rough-and-rowdy iconography that precedes most people’s actual introduction to his work.

Much in the same way, Matteo Borgardt’s You Never Had It (An Evening with Charles Bukowski) is a deeper look into the workings of Buk’s mind. It might not be quite as good as an introduction to Bukowski, but I think anyone that has read at least a little of his work could easily enjoy this. And if this is your first interaction with him, it’ll be brief. With the minuscule run time of 52 minutes, it’ll be over quick if you decide he’s not to your liking.

The film opens with a brief introduction by Silvia Bizio, that was shot in 2016, informing the viewer of the circumstances of her interviewing him and the format used. The footage was originally shot as an interview for Italian TV on January 10, 1981 on 20 minute U-matic tapes with Bizio interviewing Bukowski in his home with his girlfriend (and later, wife) Linda. Imagine trying to conduct an interview over the course of 4PM to 1AM with someone known as an ornery drunk and you have to stop to change the tape every 20 minutes. This footage was recently discovered and edited together.

Typical of any documented evening with Bukowski, there was plenty of drinking, smoking and bawdy talk. When asked, “This is where you write?”, he responds “This is where I fuck my soul.” But there was also plenty of time devoted to another classic Bukowski conversation of Silvia asking him about various authors and Buk avoiding much direct commentary, especially on anyone living. There was a moment I hadn’t often seen of him really making the point that when he referred to Céline, Dostoevsky, Joe Fante and DH Lawrence as good writers, he meant “Good writers FOR ME.” Otherwise, he didn’t really see the point of telling authors you thought they were good. Fame and praise make it difficult to continue being good. “Maybe I’d visit Camus, because he wrote The Stranger.” 

Visually, the film is mostly just them having a conversation in the living room. He briefly gives them a tour of the house, and there’s the occasional footage of some medium-rough Los Angeles neighborhoods intercut as the interview audio continues. Some music has been inserted in various places, adding just a bit of mood. And the editing was certainly done in a more reflective manner than the majority of interviews I’ve seen previously. The film ends with 2016 Silvia reading Bukowski’s poem “Those Sons of Bitches” from whence the film’s title came, played over top of modern day images of similarly rough Los Angeles neighborhoods to those that were shown previously.

Overall, I appreciated the posthumous feel the film has as it's been a while since I’ve revisited Buk’s work and it was nice to see that I still saw the soulful poet overtop of the oversexed drunkard. While nothing was overly revelatory, It was nice to see him through a slightly different lens. 

Originally screened in Italy in 2016 and screened at Slamdance in 2017, the film is receiving its first “proper” US release through virtual cinemas via Kino Marquee on August 7th. Check their site here for local theaters you can support.