Starring: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman, Lesley Manville, Omar Apollo
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Country: USA
UK Release: A24
In 1985, acclaimed gay Beatnik author William Burroughs released a follow up to Junkie – his much praised 1953 autobiographical novella about his struggles with drug addiction – entitled Queer. Like much of the literature written by the Beat Generation, it revolves around one character’s stream-of-consciousness, exploring character and theme over necessarily developing a plot. Now, iconic director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, Challengers) has helmed a rather divisive adaptation, starring Daniel Craig (James Bond, Knives Out).
Lee (Craig) lives in Mexico City in 1950. His life is one of hedonism, revolving around the hunt for sex with younger men in the darkened bars of the city’s underbelly. One day he meets Allerton (Starky – Love Simon, The Hate U Give), an American GI with whom he develops an obsession. The ex-pat is nonchalant about his advances, but when Lee hears about a drug called yagé – a psychotropic drug rumoured to give you telepathic abilities – Allerton agrees to accompany him to South America to find it deep within the Ecuadorian jungle.
The narrative is split into two clear halves, with the former focused on Lee’s time in Mexico. The film is at its strongest when we get to see the hidden gay scene of the mid-century city, with the characters’ desires hidden in plain sight but let loose after the sun sets. But despite the authenticity of Burroughs’ famously honest writing, there is nothing authentic about the soundstage this has been filmed on, with the entire set painstaking reconstructed in a studio in Italy. As a result, this feels like an artful representation of the period, with its seedy bars only seedy by design and litter placed carefully in its lovingly dirtied gutters.
The second half takes us on their trip to Ecuador and we follow the pair on their quest for the best high of their lives, feeling like Jungle Cruise meets Harold & Kumar. Here they encounter an uglified Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread, The Crown) in a bizarre role as Doctor Cotter, who has been living in the jungle for decades. An over-long trip-sequence follows, with some intensely gory SFX jarring with the insta-perfect world that we’ve been in for two hours. And “overlong” is the accusation that can be levelled against the entire film.
With a runtime nearing two and a half hours, this is a laboured movie in which not that much happens at all. The Mexico sequence rambles on and on, without ever really getting to its point, while the Ecuador segment is just plain weird. Burroughs’ source material can take most of the blame, because – let’s face it – Beatnik literature is rambling and unfocused. But unlike adaptations of Howl or On The Road, Queer hasn’t managed to find a way to unpack the density of his writing for a wider cinema audience. And though Daniel Craig revels in a career-best performance, he is underserved by Guadagnino’s unfocused reverie for Burroughs’ work. The result is a messy film that’s definitely artistic, but is only partially enjoyable.
UK Release: Out now to stream on MUBI, released by A24
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