20/40
In 1950s Mexico City, an American immigrant in his forties leads a lonely life in the midst of a small American community. Daniel Craig was ultimately the one who convinced Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey after watching Guadagnino’s audition tapes and telling him “He’s the guy”; after watching Starkey.. William Lee: Sit on Your Ass! Daniel Craig/Nicola Coughlan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Flo (2024). I’ve never seen 'Naked Lunch' (1991), but I found myself thinking about it often during the screening of ‘Queer’ at the 2024 London Film Festival: perhaps to be expected, as William S Burroughs provided the source material for both films. Mexico, William Lee, American writer on the wrong side of… forty? Fifty? He spends his days getting drunk, shooting, and having casual sex with other men. One day, a muscular, smart young hottie named Eugene walks into a bar, and Lee is smitten. But what does Eugene want? Plus, there’s that telepathic drug of contemplation… I’m not sure what director Luca Guadagnino is trying to achieve stylistically with this film. The scenes are decorated almost entirely in block colors—like dull red and olive green—and have that vaguely unrealistic, clean, technical look that makes me think the intention is to pay homage to the films of the era in which the film is set. But if that’s the case, why is Daniel Craig (is it my imagination, or is he starting to sound like Sid James?) in the lead role crippled by the constant need to recite nonsensical lines in an accent that’s clearly not his own. Drew Starkey is able to give a more subtle performance as the manipulative Eugene and he definitely looks preppy. Lesley Manville is unrecognizable as a doctor living in the South American jungle – well done to the makeup team! This is the kind of movie that feels more about the art style than the substance of the story. It was okay to see once, but I won’t be watching it again.
