Queer Review
Queer (2024) Film Review from the 62nd Annual New York Film Festival, a movie directed by Luca Guadagnino, written by William S. Burroughs and Justin Kuritzkes and starring Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, David Lowery, Henrique Zaga, Colin Bates, Drew Droege, Lisandro Alonso, Lorenzo Pozzan, Ariel Schulman, Ronia Ava and Ford Leland.
Director Luca Guadagnino’s bizarre but well-acted new A24 film, Queer, features some of the most intriguing imagery we’ve seen on-screen recently. Queer makes Beau is Afraid, another ambitious A24 movie, look mainstream and easy to follow. Set in the late 1940’s and based on a book by William S. Burroughs, Guadagnino’s film features Daniel Craig as William Lee, a man in Mexico City who does drugs and regularly looks for sexual encounters which fulfill his immediate desires. This film is mainly about William but it steers itself into an odd type of hellish world to conclude the picture and the two halves of the movie don’t wind up meshing as well as they could have. Still, Craig is brilliant in what could be the actor’s most powerful screen performance to date.
It’s almost impossible to accurately describe some of the elements in the film’s second half when it gets to South America without the help of an explanation from the book’s now deceased writer, Burroughs. As for the first half, the movie shows William’s lifestyle, including the people he associates with. One fellow acquaintance at the local restaurant is named Joe (Jason Schwartzman, wearing a beard and looking like you’ve never seen him before). Schwartzman plays his small part with zest. There are only a few scenes with Joe in the movie but they provide some comic relief in an otherwise very somber movie.
The love of William’s life is a man with glasses named Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). The two engage in steamy sexual encounters throughout the movie and they pair up to go South America together in William’s search of a “telepathic plant.” Then, a snake comes on that tries to attack our heroes and changes the structure of the movie significantly. We meet Dr. Cotter (the superb Lesley Manville, also unrecognizable) who holds a gun to William as she tries to get him to explain why he’s there. The wicked snake is Dr. Cotter’s means of protection and she does back it off before it sinks its teeth into our main characters.
This film employs music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross that fits the style of the film’s second half more than the first part. Queer also knows how to use tracks like Nirvana’s “Come as You Are” and the picture has wonderful costumes that are representative of the time period the movie is set in. However, the plot really changes directions so significantly that when the action returns to Mexico City at the end, the whole wild second half feels like it was a dream. And, maybe it was.
What happens in Queer that is so bizarre? The appearance of the snake locks in the craziness as William and Eugene’s bodies eventually merge together in a scene that will remind one of something out of an old movie like Altered States, only even more intense. Then, both main characters also throw up one of their primary inner organs so if you think this movie will be an easy watch, it will not.
The acting almost makes it work. Craig becomes his character in such a way that it’s impossible to look away in the early scenes because the actor makes him a true commanding screen presence. Even towards the end, there’s a heart-wrenching sequence where William is laying in a bed, recalling his love for Eugene. We feel the desires William possessed for this other man and Craig nails the emotional complexity of his role and then some. Drew Starkey may feel miscast at first but the picture soon starts to make his role in the action clearer as it reaches its final moments. Starkey achieves an accomplished performance here even if he’s no match for Craig in terms of creating emotional intensity.
Lesley Manville could end up with a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination despite her limited screen time. Her unusual character is a force to contend with and is unlike anything the actress has ever done. Manville is one of the finest character actresses working today and the role of Dr. Cotter is fierce and unpredictable much like the actress herself. Visually speaking, she looks the part thanks to the film’s costumes and makeup as well.
The problem with Queer is that it feels like two different films: One which focuses on the determined William and his passionate desires and another movie which just sort of explores experimental themes that don’t really have definitive answers in regards to their ambiguity. That being said, Burroughs fans will know what they’re getting into if they choose to see this movie. Others may be a bit baffled by some of the imagery.
Luca Guadagnino could never make a bad film but some scenes towards the end here do go on longer than was anticipated and some of the stranger plot developments never really seem to deliver on their intentions. Still, Queer is a work of daring originality that never lets up. It’s frightening and emotional and Craig is beyond perfect in his role. For some people, that may be more than enough to want to see this film.
Rating: 6.5/10
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