By Alex Gilston - October 19, 2024
Luca Guadagnino has already treated us cinematically this year with his high-energy ménage à trois drama Challengers, but if that wasn't enough for you then he has teamed up with screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes once again for Queer. An adaptation of William Burrough’s semi autobiographical short novel that acted as a sequel of sorts to his earlier book Junkie. Queer is the polar opposite to Challengers, loud bodacious filmmaking is swapped for something more quiet and reflective. It’s a pitch-perfect home run that only further solidifies Guadagnino’s talents.
Lee (Daniel Craig) wanders the streets and bars of Mexico City in search of connection, all the while wrestling with his identity as a queer person. Short meetings with other men, and taking drugs bookmark his days of drinking and befriending, more openly, homosexual men. When he lays eyes on Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) he becomes transfixed. Lee attempts to win Allerton’s favour with his semi-confident charm, and Allerton eventually reciprocates. As the pair’s relationship grow Lee invites Allerton on a trip around South America in search for a drug that will hold all the answers he seeks.
As much as we would hate to say it longing is a quintessential part of the human experience. It can manifest itself in multiple ways, like longing for people, connection, and on an even deeper level for the person we truly want to be. Queer embodies all of these forms of longing through Lee, as he plays out his troubled existence. There is a palpable aching feeling as we follow him through this journey, one that is made clear he has been on for a while.
His initial meeting with Allerton is like a light bulb moment. A singular, fallible, living being who Lee thinks can solve all of his problems. Their relationship is far from conventional however, as Allerton plays hard to get. Lee’s hesitance to take his relationship further with Allerton manifests itself in ghostly projections performing intimate actions, like caressing Allerton’s face, in place of Lee actually doing them. These moments are a visually stunning way of representing Lee’s uncertainty, not only to his relationship with Allerton but also his feelings around his sexuality.
Queer isn’t in any way conventional. The narrative is meandering, and some of the steps that are taken by Lee are incredibly abstract. But it doesn’t make it hard to follow. In fact its a raw look into Lee’s, and by proxy William Burroughs’, mind. His wants and desires are complicated and jumbled up into dreams and trance like states. In an attempt to better understand these desires, and also understand his new companion, he goes to seek out ayahuasca in the jungle. He’s convinced it has properties that make you telepathic with one another. Many LGBTQ+ people will relate to this idea of wanting to understand who you are, and going to extreme lengths to do so. Queer people beat themselves backwards over what their place in the world looks like and Lee is doing much the same.
Daniel Craig is at his career best in Queer. In recent years he’s shaken off the cobwebs of a certain spy shaped character, and this is the ultimate example of his flourishment. There is a power in his unspoken word. We don’t need him to vocalise what he is feeling, for us to know. Despite there being a separation from reality, Craig’s performance is very much grounded in it. He is real, raw, and he never borders on tipping over into melodramatic. Drew Starkey holds up to Craig’s excellence too. Allerton is aloof for much of the film, a character that mostly lingers on the fringes of the screen, but he’s sure to linger in your mind long after the film has finished.
Queer’s technical prowess shines too. The cinematography is vast and intimate all at once, and the production design is beautiful. Once again, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross stitch together the film with their chameleon like scoring ability. The interesting thing about Reznor and Ross is they aren’t like a John Williams, where you always know its him no matter the film. Their scores are truly unique from film to film, and their composition for Queer is no different.
Ultimately, Queer is a ghost story, it’s about the things that haunt us in the past, present, and future. The mistakes we make, and the personal sacrifices that hide our true selves from the light. Sometimes true enlightenment doesn’t exist no matter how far we go to find it, and no matter who we try to find it in. But that isn’t to say that we cant still be satisfied with what we have. Queer may be filled with grief for the people we truly want to be, but beyond obsession sparks of light in life still exist.
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