34/32
In 1950s Mexico City, a 40-year-old American immigrant lives a lonely life in a small American community. However, the arrival of a young college student leads him to form a meaningful bond with someone. It was Daniel Craig who finally convinced Luca Guadagnino to play Drew Starkey after watching Guadagnino’s audition tapes and saying, “This… this is it.” He’s the guy after seeing Starkey… William Lee: Shut Up! Or What’s Left of Her After Four Years in the Navy… Starring in The Graham Norton Show: Daniel Craig/Nicola Coughlan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Flo (2024). I’ve never seen Naked Lunch (1991), but I often thought about it during a screening of Queer at the London Film Festival in 2024: perhaps it was to be expected, since both films had William S. Burroughs as their source material. In 1950s Mexico, William Lee, an American writer on the wrong side of… forty? Fifty? Spends his days getting drunk, kissing, and having casual sex with other men. One day, he A muscular and intelligent young man, Eugene, walks into the bar, and Lee is smitten with him. But what does Eugene want? And then there’s that telepathic drug… I’m not sure what style director Luca Guadagnino is going for with this film. The set is decorated almost exclusively in solid colors – dull red and olive green, for example – and has this vaguely unrealistic, clean, colorful look that made me believe the intention was to pay homage to the films of the era in which the film is set. But if that’s the case, why is the soundtrack reminiscent of ’50s rock and techno? Daniel Craig (is it me, or is he starting to resemble Sid James?) takes the lead role and has to constantly deliver nonsensical speeches in an accent that is definitely not his. Drew Starkey is able to play a more subtle portrayal of the manipulative Eugene, and definitely shows his neat nature. Lesley Manville is unrecognizable as a doctor living in the South American jungle – kudos to the make-up team! In my opinion, this is the kind of film where the artistic style matters more than the story content. It was watchable once, but I won’t watch it again.
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