When a film is based on a Williams S. Burrough’s novel, you know it’s going to be something else. The author of such works as “Junkie” and “Naked Lunch,” Burroughs is best known as an experimental and postmodern writer whose works are often about his heroin addiction.
So while many might walk into Luca Guadagnino’s new film Queer thinking it’s going to be a sweet recollection of a forbidden romance in 1950s Mexico, they would be sorely mistaken.
Queer revolves around William Lee (Daniel Craig), an American expat living in Mexico City who wanders aimlessly through the city, visiting bar after bar and only occasionally having any company at all. The one person that can seemingly tolerate his drunken and sweaty drugged-out stupor is his buddy Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) a plump, bearded, Jewish gay man always on the prowl for a good time.
During his hazy days and nights, “Lee,” as he is called, finds himself drawn to the underground queer population and the American GIs wandering the city trying to figure out where to land.
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One of these men is Eugene Allerton (Outer Banks‘ Drew Starkey), a slim but muscular young man with the chiseled face of a Greek statue and the demeanor of one as well.
The two keep crossing paths, with Lee drunkenly trying to hit on him one night to no avail. When he finally has the courage to talk to him, the two hit it off in that vague way where no one talks much, but the companionship is still agreeable.
Lee eventually gets Eugene into bed in a simple but erotic scene that has the two finally connecting more intimately. After that, the two keep spending time together, but it’s never clear whether Eugene is really “queer” or not, and Lee’s constant gravitation toward him (read: obsession) tends to threaten whatever connection they have.
Arranged into three chapters and an epilogue, the Mexico City chapter represents the meeting of these two souls, while the second chapter has the two traveling to South America. Eugene agreed to the trip with the arrangement that he would sleep with Lee at least twice a week while Lee would front the bill.
While in South America, Lee goes into withdrawal, with Eugene silently enabling the addiction. The two continue their strange companionship, but the strain begins to show. The sex between them is potent and feels equally charged, but Eugene’s silence seems to point to an uncertainty about his sexuality, or maybe an uncertainty that he wants to live that life with all of its secrecy and lack of tolerance.
Lee certainly seems like he is reaching out to embrace his queerness, but he is also doing so with someone decades younger than himself which only contributes to this notion that he isn’t a part of the queer community at all. Or maybe won’t be accepted by them. With Eugene, he can grab on for dear life because at least this proves someone will accept the part of him he has clearly repressed for years.
The third chapter has the two tromping through the jungle to find a Doctor Cotter (an unrecognizable Lesley Manville) who can give them the plant Ayahuasca so they can smoke and be enlightened. There, the film takes a drastic turn to the trippy as the two men fight for what they want and try to run from what they are afraid of.
Luca Guadagnino (Challengers, Bones & All) is a gifted filmmaker who navigates genres with ease. While his films always have an edge that certainly moves them out of the pure mainstream, Queer has a more meandering narrative with an esoteric final act.
To be fair, this movie won’t be for everyone. Gay men might be drawn to it but wonder halfway through what they are watching. It’s sometimes glacially paced, only occasionally erotic, and filled with a number of unlikeable characters, especially Lee.
Craig is terrific here, playing against his usual type, but this drunken, suffocating addict is both annoying and pathetic. Watching the film, you aren’t sure if he will have any revelation to make his life better, so it can be a bit of a struggle to follow his journey. Regardless, he fills the character with a sadness and longing that is palpable.
Starkey is magnetic on screen, but his character is too aloof to actually care about. He has a lovely moment with Doctor Cotter in the jungle where she urges him to accept himself, but Manville is the one that comes across as the most affecting in the scene. In fact, Manville (Phantom Thread) is a revelation. I had no idea who the actress playing Doctor Cotter was. With her greasy, thinning hair, dirty nails, and brown teeth, I wondered who the character actor playing her was. At the same time, she was the most empathic and interesting person in the film. And worthy of a supporting actress nomination.
The script by Justin Kuritzkes (Challengers) gets many things right, such as dialogue and beautiful character moments, but the meandering, almost aimless narrative can be challenging to watch.
It’s a beautiful film in many ways, and Guadagnino crafts a sumptuous look at Mexico City and South America. He works well with his actors and clearly has their trust, especially in the more potent sexual scenes. He also uses a lot of relatively modern music, which works nicely, and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score fits the various styles the film navigates.
But who this film is for is the question. As a gay man, I wasn’t transfixed by Lee’s story, although I could understand the push and pull of same-sex desire in a world that isn’t always accepting. But if the film was truly about Lee’s ache to dive into that world and his pointless quest in pursuing not only someone who is too young for him but still hasn’t accepted his sexuality, this theme could have been more powerful.
I don’t mind a film that’s a “thinker,” and writing this review made me delve deeper into what I had seen and appreciate it more after some time away from it.
To quote the many definitions of the word, Queer is an odd and unusual film. It doesn’t conform to any one theme, and it is certainly unconventional for it. In that, the film’s title lives up to the man explored and the art created.
Queer opens in select theaters on November 27, 2024.
