In an alignment of the stars, director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, A Bigger Splash, Challengers) and Bond actor Daniel Craig have come together with Queer, the film adaptation of William Burroughs’ 1985 semi-autobiographical classic, Queer. Burroughs is widely considered one of the primary figures of the Beat Generation and a major author and cultural influencer of his time. It’s immediately clear that Craig relishes playing the role of the hard-drinking, heroin-using, gun-toting, man-fucking Lee, a writer, as he wastes his days in the gay-frequented bars of early 1950s Mexico City.
Queer life back then wasn’t easy for anyone, and the louche Lee casts a solitary figure propping up a slightly sad bar, his nicotine-stained fingers constantly full of a glass and a cigarette as he casts his eye around hoping to pull someone young and strapping. Despite being in his mid-fifties, he has no problem attracting much younger and fitter men (the casting of Craig making this totally believable), and often ends up in a local fleapit hotel with his conquest of the night. It’s a lonely life for Lee and behind his glassy eyes is a yearning for love.
One of his conquests is Eugene Allerton (a very handsome Drew Starkey), a former US Navy recruit of indeterminate sexuality who ends up in bed with Burroughs one night. Although the encounter has a cash value for Allerton, his interest in Burroughs is piqued enough to stick around for more than just the cash. Allerton, however, plays his cards very close to his chest and Lee can’t work out whether Allerton has feelings for him or not.
Lee learns about a plant called yage in the Ecuador jungle, the consumption of which, in an ayahuasca ceremony, will grant telepathic powers. This would enable him to know if Allerton loves him. The plant also allows you to control others. Thus inspired, he persuades Allerton to join him on the trip, offering to pay Allerton’s expenses and for sex twice a week. Allerton agrees and the two head off on a madcap trip to South America.
Guadagnino has shone a spotlight on the life of drug and alcohol addicted middle-aged men without a social or familial support system, a group who largely fall under the radar of society. The solitude, the longing, the aches and cravings, all are brilliantly portrayed by Craig, who gives a faultless account of the needy, horny Lee, searching for a connection. Lee’s extreme solutions to minor problems and the lack of care about other issues, every decision clouded by drink and drugs, are captured with the greatest of attention to detail. Craig’s Bond body has been replaced by a more natural fifty-something body, still hot but no doubt to the relief of countless men around the world who might no longer need to benchmark him as much in their fitness goals. Queer is somewhat short of plot lines, but this is more of a character study than story-telling. An excellent soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross lubricates proceedings – slipping in gems from Nirvana, Prince, Sinead O’Connor and New Order, as do Craig’s various lusty sex scenes. Amongst the great supporting cast, Lesley Manville plays Dr Cotter, a very feisty ayahuasca master of ceremonies and Jason Schwarzman is hilarious as Joe, a fellow drinker friend of Lee’s who is always getting robbed by his hook-ups. Loewe’s Jonathan Anderson’s outfits add to the mix. My only criticism of the film is that the sets made the cinematography look very studio rather than location based, a fact not aided by the various unrealistic CGI landscapes. Others may prefer this however. At 2 hours 15 minutes, make yourself comfortable, but it’s worth it.
Queerguru’s Contributing Editor Ris Fatah is a successful fashion/luxury business consultant (when he can be bothered) who divides and wastes his time between London and Ibiza. He is a lover of all things queer, feminist, and human rights in general. @ris.fatah
