15/16
In 1950s Mexico City, a 40-year-old American immigrant lives a lonely life in the middle of a small American community. However, the arrival of a young student leads the man to finally establish a meaningful relationship with someone. Ultimately, it was Daniel Craig who convinced Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey after watching an audition tape of Guadagnino and telling him that “He’s the guy” after seeing Starkey… William Lee: Sit on your ass! Or what’s left of him after four years in the Navy.. Starred in The Graham Norton Show: Daniel Craig/Nicola Coughlan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Flo (2024). I’ve never seen “Naked Lunch” before. (1991), but I found myself thinking about it a lot at the screening of Queer at the 2024 London Film Festival: perhaps to be expected, as William S Burroughs provided the source material for both films. In 1950s Mexico, William Lee, an American writer on the wrong side of the tracks… forty? Fifty? He spends his days getting drunk, shooting and having casual sex with other men. One day, the muscular, intelligent young man Eugene walks into the bar and Lee is impressed. But what does Eugene want? Plus there’s that telepathic drug to think about… I don’t know what director Luca Guadagnino is trying to achieve stylistically with this film. The sets are decorated almost exclusively in block colours – muted red and olive green, for example – and that vaguely unrealistic, clean Technicolor look that made me think the intention was to pay homage to the films of the era in which the film is set. But if that’s the case, then 1950s rock and techno music is clearly not his style. Drew Starkey is able to give a more subtle performance as the manipulative Eugene, and it certainly seems like a set-up. Lesley Manville is unrecognizable as the South American jungle doctor – so good on the makeup team! It’s the kind of movie I see as more about art style than storytelling. It was good to see it once, but I won’t be watching it again.