26/42
“That’s the guy” after watching Starkey’s… William Lee: Sit on Your Ass!
In 1950s Mexico City, an American immigrant in his forties leads a lonely life amidst a small American community. However, the arrival of a young student prompts the man to finally make a meaningful connection with someone. Daniel Craig was ultimately the one to convince Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey after watching audition tapes with Guadagnino and telling him “That” is what he really likes.
Or What’s Left of It After Four Years in the Navy
Featured in Graham Norton i gosti: Nicola Coughlan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Daniel Craig/Flo (2024). I hadn’t planned on seeing Queer in the cinema and was going to wait until it came to streaming, but a friend wanted to see it so I went ahead. I’m actually glad I did because it’s a very interesting and visually beautiful film.
This can be tricky as a lot of the story is expressed through strange, outlandish, or hard-to-decipher metaphors and visuals
Like most Burroughs stories, there will be characters involved in heavy drug use, so I was aware of that and expected a lot of the story to be told through the eyes of the drug-influenced or drug-induced characters. In Queer, it all worked out pretty well and while I anticipated possibly leaving the theater confused and wondering, I actually came away satisfied. Trent Reznor produced all of the music and I think he did a great job and most of the music really hit the spot for me emotionally.
All of the remaining characters were solid supporters and contributors
As for the performances, Craig put in a very solid performance in a role that was difficult to pull off, but I think he did it pretty well. Jason Schwartzman was great and his character provided some much-needed levity to this film. Guadagnino’s direction was well executed and having watched some of his I will say that he has a special way of blending the camera, lighting and music so seamlessly during the lighter, more tender moments of his films to really build a vibe, but without being too obvious as to suffocate the moment.
Something to consider
I think the third part in the jungle could have benefited from some prudent editing as I felt it went on for too long – or maybe it didn’t really need to take place in a jungle? Queer is not an ‘easy’ film to watch and it won’t be for everyone. Either way, I was pleasantly surprised by how effective, interesting and moving Queer was and I consider it well worth checking out.
