28/36
In 1950s Mexico City, a forty-year-old American immigrant lives a solitary life amidst a small American community. But the arrival of a new student encourages the man to finally make a meaningful connection with someone. Ultimately, it was Daniel Craig who convinced Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey after he watched the audition tapes with Guadagnino and told him “That’s the guy” upon seeing Starkey. William Lee: Sit on Your Ass! Or What’s Left of It 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 found myself thinking about it often during the screening of Queer at the 2024 London Film Festival – which 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 is in the wrong… forties? Fifties? He spends his days getting drunk, shooting and having casual sex with other men. One day, Eugene, a muscular and intelligent young man, walks into a bar, and Lee falls in love. But what does Eugene want? Then there’s the telepathic drugs… 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 a vaguely unrealistic, clean, tech-savvy look that makes me think the goal is to pay homage to the films of the era in which the film is set. But if that’s the case, why the 50s rock and techno soundtrack? Daniel Craig (is it my imagination, or is he starting to sound like Sid James?) is limited in the lead role, having to constantly speak nonsensical speech in an accent that clearly doesn’t belong to him. Drew Starkey is able to give a more refined performance as the manipulative Eugene, and he certainly looks it. Leslie Manville is unrecognizable as the doctor who lives in the South American jungle. Big kudos to the makeup team! This is the kind of film that seems to me to be more about artistic style than narrative substance. It was nice to see once, but I won’t watch it again.
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