17/12
In 1950s Mexico City, an American immigrant in his late forties leads a lonely life in the midst of a small American community. The arrival of a young student, however, leads the man to finally form a meaningful relationship with someone. It was ultimately Daniel Craig who convinced Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey after watching audition videos of Guadagnino and telling him, “That’s the guy” after seeing Starkey’s… William Lee: Sit on your butt! Or what’s left of it after four years in the Navy. Appearing 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 frequently during the 2024 London Film Festival screening of Queer: probably to be expected, since William S. Burroughs provided the basis for both films. In 1950s Mexico, William Lee, an American writer on the wrong side of… forty? fifty?, spends his days getting drunk, shooting up, and having casual sex with other men. One day, muscular, smart young guy Eugene walks into the bar, and Lee is smitten. But what does Eugene want himself? And besides, there’s that telepathic drug to consider… I’m not sure what director Luca Guadagnino is trying to achieve stylistically with this film. The sets are decorated almost entirely in block colors – dull reds and olive greens, for example – and have this slightly unreal, clean Technicolor look that made me think the intention was an homage to the films of the era in which the film is set. But if that’s the case, why the decidedly atypical ’50s rock and techno soundtrack? Daniel Craig (am I imagining it or is he starting to look like Sid James?) is hampered in the lead role by having to constantly spout nonsense in an accent that is clearly not his own. Drew Starkey can give a more subtle performance as the manipulative Eugene and certainly looks dapper doing it. Lesley Manville is unrecognizable as a doctor living in the South American jungle – kudos to the makeup team! This is the kind of film where I’m more concerned with artistic style than narrative substance. It was OK once, but I won’t watch it again.
