49/34
In 1950s Mexico City, an American immigrant in his late forties lives a lonely life in the middle of a small American community. However, the arrival of a young college student pushes the man to finally form a meaningful relationship with someone. Ultimately, it was Daniel Craig who convinced Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey after watching an audition tape with Guadagnino and saying, "This" and the guy" after seeing Starkey… William Lee: Sit on your ass! Or what’s left of him after four years in the Navy.. Starred in The Graham Norton Show: Daniel Craig/Nicola Coughlan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Flo (2024). I’ve never seen ‘Naked Lunch’ before. (1991), but I found myself thinking about it often at the screening of “Queer” at the 2024 London Film Festival: probably to be expected, since William S. Burroughs provided the source material for both films in the 1950s. Mexico, William Lee, an American writer from the wrong side of the… forties? fifties? He spends his days drinking, shooting, and casually having sex with other men. One day, a muscular, smart young man named Eugene walks into a bar, and Lee is impressed. But what does Eugene want? Plus there’s that telepathic drug to think about… I don’t know what director Luca Guadagnino is trying to achieve stylistically with this film. The sets are decorated almost exclusively in block colors—like muted reds and olive greens—and have this vaguely unrealistic, stripped-down Technicolor 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, then the rock and techno music of the 1950s is definitely not with its own accent. Drew Starkey could have given a more subtle performance as the manipulative Eugene, and it certainly feels like preparation. Lesley Manville is unrecognizable as a doctor living in the South American jungle – great job by the makeup team! This is the kind of movie I see as more about art style than storytelling. It was nice to see it once, but I won’t be watching it again.