25/21
In 1950s Mexico City, a forty-something American immigrant lives a lonely life amidst a small American community. However, the arrival of a young student causes the man to finally make a meaningful connection with someone. Daniel Craig was ultimately the one who landed Luca Guadagnino the role of Drew Starkey after watching audition tapes with Guadagnino and telling him “That’s a friend.” After seeing Starkey… William Lee: Sit on your ass! Or what’s left of it after four years in the Navy. Appeared on The Graham Norton Show: Daniel Craig/Nicola Coughlan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Flo (2024). I’ve never seen Naked Lunch (1991), but I found myself thinking about it often during the screening of “Queer” at the 2024 London Film Festival: probably to be expected, since William S. Burroughs provided the source material for both films. Mexico City, William Lee, an American writer on the wrong side of… forty? Fifties? He spends his days getting drunk, shooting and having casual sex with other men. One day, a muscular, intelligent young man, Eugene, walks into the bar and Lee is shocked. But what does Eugene himself want? Plus, there’s that telepathic drug thing worth thinking about… I’m not sure what stylistically director Luca Guadagnino is trying to achieve with this film. The sets are almost exclusively decorated in block colours (dull reds and olive greens, for example) and have that pure, unrealistic technicolour look that made me think the intention was to pay homage to films from the era the film is set in. But if so, why isn’t the rock and techno soundtrack precisely from the 50s? Daniel Craig (is it my imagination or is he starting to sound like Sid James?) is stuck in the lead role because he has to constantly spout nonsense in an accent that is clearly not his own. Drew Starkey is able to give a more subtle performance as the manipulative Eugene, and he certainly seems prepared. Lesley Manville is unrecognizable as a doctor living in the South American jungle. Well done, makeup team! This is the kind of movie that for me is more about the art style than the storytelling. It was okay to watch once, but I won’t be watching it again.
