33/43
In 1950s Mexico City, an American immigrant in his late forties leads a lonely life in the midst of a small American community. But the arrival of a young student prompts the man to finally form a meaningful connection with someone. After all, Daniel Craig was the one who convinced Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey after watching Guadagnino’s audition videos and telling him, “It’s the guy” after seeing Starkey. William Lee: Sit on Your Ass! Or What’s Left of Her After Four Years in the Navy. The Graham Norton Show Cast: Daniel Craig/Nicola Coughlan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Flo (2024). I’ve never seen Naked Lunch (1991), but I thought about it a lot during the 2024 London Film Festival screening of Queer: probably to be expected, given that the source material for both films was provided by William S. Burroughs. Set in 1950s Mexico, William Lee, an American writer on the wrong side of the… forties? Fifty? He spends his days getting drunk, shooting up, and having casual sex with other men. One day, a muscular, smart young handsome man, Eugene, walks into the bar and Lee is impressed. But what does Eugene himself want? Plus, there’s that telepathic mind drug… I’m not sure what director Luca Guadagnino is trying to achieve stylistically with this film. The scenes are almost entirely in block colors – boring reds and olive greens, for example – and have this slightly unrealistic, clean, technical look that made me think it was an homage to the films of the era in which the film is set. But if that’s the case, then why the decidedly 1950s rock and techno soundtrack? Daniel Craig (am I imagining it or is he starting to look like Sid James?) suffers from a constant urge to spout nonsense in the lead role, in an accent that is clearly not his. Drew Starkey gets a more nuanced performance as the manipulative Eugene, and certainly looks dapper. Lesley Manville is unrecognizable as a doctor in the South American jungle – congratulations to the makeup team! This is the kind of film that is more about the art style than the narrative substance. It was fine to watch once, but I won’t watch it again.