Queer 2024 MULTI.DDP Tibi
In Mexico City in the 1950s, an American immigrant in his forties lives an isolated life in the middle of a small American community. However, the appearance of a young student prompts a man to finally form a meaningful relationship with someone. It was Daniel Craig who convinced Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey after watching Guadagnino’s audition tapes and meeting Starkey who said, «That’s the guy.» William Lee: Sit on your ass! Or what was left of him after four years of service in the navy. The Graham Norton Show Starring: Daniel Craig/Nicola Coughlan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Flo (2024). I have never seen Naked Dinner. (1991), but I often thought about it during the screening of Queer at the 2024 London Film Festival: perhaps this was to be expected, since William S. Burroughs provided the source material for both films. In Mexico, 1950s, the American writer William Lee,… forty? Fifty years? He spends his time getting drunk, shooting and having casual sex with other men. One day, Eugene, a muscular and smart young handsome man, walks into a bar, and Lee is shocked. But what does Yevgeny himself want? Plus there’s another telepathic potion to think about… Stylistically, I’m not sure what director Luca Guadagnino is trying to achieve with this film. The sets are done in almost blocky colors – dark reds and olive greens, for example – and have that vaguely unrealistic, clean, technicolor look that I thought was meant to pay homage to the era the film is set in. But if that’s the case, why isn’t the soundtrack in the style of rock and techno from the 1950s? Daniel Craig (I think, or is he starting to look like Sid James?) is hindered by the fact that he has to constantly wear nonsense in the main role, with an accent that is clearly not his own. Drew Starkey plays the manipulative Eugene beautifully and certainly looks the part. Leslie Manville is unrecognizably like a doctor living in the jungles of South America – kudos to the make-up team! It seems to me that this film has more artistic style than narrative content. You can watch it once, but I won’t watch it again.