26/10
In 1950s Mexico City, a forty-year-old American immigrant lives a solitary life in a small American community. However, the arrival of a new student encourages the man to form a meaningful connection with someone. Ultimately, it was Daniel Craig who convinced Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey after he watched Guadagnino’s audition tapes and told him, “That’s the guy!” when he saw Starkey. William Lee: Sit on Your Ass! Or What Was Left of Him After Four Years in the Navy. The Graham Norton Show stars: Daniel Craig/Nicola Cowan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Flo (2024). I’ve never seen Naked Lunch (1991), but I thought a lot about it when Queer was screened at the 2024 London Film Festival: it was probably to be expected, since William S. Burroughs provided the source material for both films. In 1950s Mexico, William Lee, an American writer who’s on the wrong side of… forty? Fifty? She spends her days getting drunk, injecting drugs, and having sex with other men. One day, a muscular, intelligent, handsome young man named Eugene walks into a bar, and Lee is smitten. But what does Eugene want? Then there’s that telepathic drug to think about… I’m not sure what director Luca Guadagnino is trying to achieve stylistically with this film. The sets are decorated almost exclusively in solid colors, like dull reds and olive greens, and have this vaguely unrealistic, clean, colorful look that made me think the intention was to pay homage to films from the era in which the film is set. . But if that’s the case, why isn’t the soundtrack necessarily 50s rock and techno? Daniel Craig (is it my imagination, or is he starting to sound like Sid James?) is a stunner in the lead role, constantly having to make stupid speeches in an accent that clearly isn’t his. Drew Starkey is able to give a more nuanced performance as the manipulative Eugene, and he certainly looks the part. Leslie Manville is unrecognizable as a doctor living in the South American jungle – kudos to the makeup team! This is the kind of film that strikes me as more about the art than the story. I might watch it once, but I won’t watch it again.