What happens when a French filmmaker gives Charles Bukowski a mic, a bottle, and zero guardrails? He chain-smokes, insults the crew, drops genius between gulps of beer, and somehow it’s beautiful.
Trailer for “The Charles Bukowski Tapes”
You Can’t Make This Sh!t Up
- Bukowski assaults his wife, Linda Lee, while the cameras are rolling. This single moment made the doc infamous.
- The crew’s rule was simple: whoever was the least drunk operated the camera.
Watch “The Charles Bukowski Tapes”
It’s currently not available to stream in the U.S. It was last on MUBI until September 2021. Keep an eye on JustWatch for any new availability.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 92/100
- IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 100/100 (Users); not yet rated (Critics)
Director’s Note: This was a personal project for Barbet Schroeder. He followed Bukowski around his East Hollywood home in 1981, giving him space to rant about art, poverty, poetry, and the human condition. This is all without filters or production polish. Schroeder called it “Bukowski’s version of a confessional booth.”
Release Date: 1985 (though most of it was filmed in 1981)
My Review of “The Charles Bukowski Tapes”
The Setup
If you ever wondered what it’s like to be trapped in a room with Bukowski for four hours, this is it. The camera doesn’t just capture the man—it absorbs him. He talks about everything from Nietzsche to neighborhood hookers to why he loves alcohol more than humans.
Each segment is raw and stripped down. There’s no narration. Just Bukowski monologuing, slurring, smoking, or yelling at Linda Lee for moving something off a table.
More Highlights from the Doc
- There’s a whole section where he dissects his hatred for “the system”. From 9-to-5 jobs to marriage to middle-class morality. “I’d rather sleep in my piss than wear a suit,” he says.
- Bukowski explains why he writes drunk but edits sober—and why he thinks most writers are “just dull mechanics with typewriters.”
- He opens up about his abusive father, saying the beatings were so constant he “just stopped crying.”
- He rails against literary critics, saying most of them “haven’t lived enough to even write an obituary.”
- The final film runs four hours. But it’s cut from 64 hours of raw footage. That’s 52 interviews in Bukowski’s kitchen, living room, bedroom, wherever he decided that day.
Lesser-Known Details from the Doc
- Filming paused multiple times because the crew ran out of booze. They’d stop, do a liquor run, and resume taping once everyone was properly “in the mood.”
- Bukowski reads his poems out loud with live reactions. He often interrupts himself to insult his own work or go off on a tangent about street fights or prostitutes.
- He doesn’t just talk about pain—he performs it. In one monologue, he slaps his own face repeatedly while talking about being rejected in his twenties.
Wrap Up:
This doc is Bukowski inviting you to dissect his life while he’s still breathing. If you’re looking for polish, skip it. If you want unfiltered chaos and genius in equal measure, queue this up.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc