16/46
In 1950s Mexico City, an American immigrant in his late forties lives a lonely life in the midst of a small American community. But the arrival of a young student pushes the man to finally start a serious 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 “this and that guy” after seeing Starkey… William Lee: Sit on your butt! Or what’s left of him after four years in the Navy. Cast in “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 a lot at the 2024 London Film Festival screening of Queer: to be expected, probably, 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? He spends his days getting drunk, shooting up, and having casual sex with other men. One day, muscular, smart young man Eugene walks into the bar, and Lee is impressed. But what does Eugene want? And besides, you have to think of that telepathic drug… I don’t know what director Luca Guadagnino is trying to achieve stylistically with this film. The sets are almost entirely in block colors – like muted reds and olive greens – and have that slightly unrealistic, stripped-down Technicolor look that made me think the intention was to pay homage to the films of the era the film is set in. . But if that’s the case, then the definitely not ’50s rock and techno music clearly doesn’t have its own accent. Drew Starkey could give a more subtle performance as the manipulative Eugene, and it certainly seems like some kind of set-up. Lesley Manville is unrecognizable as a doctor living in the South American jungle – great work by the make-up team! This type of film is more about artistic style than storytelling, in my opinion. It was nice to see it once, but I won’t watch it again.