Film Review - Queer
Images courtesy of Madman Entertainment.
Queer, Luca Guadagnino’s newest film, stars Daniel Craig (No Time To Die) and Drew Starkey (Outer Banks) in this biopic-meets-adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ unfinished novella. The meandering plot follows Lee, an untethered expatriate living in Mexico, who spends his days drinking at local bars. A chance encounter leads him to pursue Eugene, an off-duty American soldier. Though Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s cinematography and Jonathan Anderson’s costuming made Queer a stunning visual spectacle, the story dragged its 2h16m runtime. The most compelling storytelling began when Lee and Eugene left Mexico in pursuit of ayahuasca, a mind-altering hallucinogen Lee believes will grant him telepathy. Guadagnino’s choice to embrace hyper-realistic body horror and surrealism created a beautiful sequence, but ultimately didn’t stand up against the weaker first act.
The cerebral tone of Queer seems unnecessary, when there was little substance to back up the lengthy swathes of philosophical dialogue and psychedelic montages. Both Lee and Eugene are compelling, lively characters, but a lack of exposition leaves the audience confused and struggling to connect to their narratives. The colourful cast of side characters brightened Queer’s bleak tale, but most were only featured for a few scenes. Notably, Jason Schwartzman’s endearing performance as Lee’s foppish friend and Lesley Manville’s wise-but-terrifying cameo as the jungle sage drew the audience in, but ultimately redirected them to Lee’s lengthier story arc.
Drew Starkey’s performance as Eugene was subtle and mercurial, but Justin Kuritzkes’ writing seemed reductive of his character, in particular, poorly timing an excellent emotional revelation. Queer grapples with William S Burroughs’ internalised homophobia along with his repressed identity, but this layer of symbolism is only visible to those who have researched his history. Queer fails to stand alone, instead opting to lean on an obscure literary canon. The tragic, heartfelt depth of this story was undermined by Guadagnino’s laser-focus on Craig’s performance as Lee. Though Queer has all the ingredients of a great drama, its delivery misses the mark.
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Queer is screening in cinemas from February 6th. For tickets and more info, click here.