Queer 2024 720p.Ac3 JFF
In 1950s Mexico City, an American immigrant in his late forties leads a lonely life in a small American community. However, the arrival of a young student makes the man want to finally get into a serious relationship with someone. It was Daniel Craig who ultimately convinced Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey after watching audition videos with Guadagnino and telling him “that’s the man” after seeing Starkey’s… William Lee: Sit on Your Butt! Or, What’s Left of Him After Four Years in the Navy… Featured on The Graham Norton Show: Daniel Craig/Nicola Coughlan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Flo (2024). I’ve never seen Naked Lunch (1991), but I thought about it a lot during the 2024 London Film Festival screening of Queer: It was probably to be expected, since William S. Burroughs provided the source material for both films. Set in the 1950s; Mexico, William Lee, American writer on the wrong side of the… Forty? fifty? He spends his days getting drunk, shooting up, and having casual sex with other men. One day, a muscular, intelligent young man named Eugene walks into the bar, and Lee is smitten. But what does Eugene himself want? Plus, you have to think about that telepathic drug… I’m not sure what director Luca Guadagnino is trying to achieve stylistically with this film. The sets are almost entirely in block colors – dull red and olive green, for example – and have this slightly unrealistic, stripped-down Technicolor look that made me think the intention was an homage to the films of the era in which the film is set. But if that’s the case, then why is that rock and techno soundtrack definitely not from the ’50s? Daniel Craig (am I imagining it or is he starting to look like Sid James?) struggled in the lead role, constantly having to deliver meaningless speeches in an accent that was clearly not his. Drew Starkey can give a more subtle performance as the manipulative Eugene and certainly looks the part. Leslie Manville is unrecognizable as the doctor living in the South American jungle – bravo to the makeup team! This type of film is more about artistic style than storytelling substance in my opinion. It was nice to see it once, but I won’t watch it again.