“Queer” Review

Daniel Craig embodies a fictional alter-ego of acclaimed novelist William S. Burroughs in “Queer”, the second film of Luca Guadagnino’s in 2024.

I think that it’s a true blessing from God when I find myself able to watch two excellent films from a filmmaker like Luca Guadagnino in a theater in the same year. After wowing audiences with “Challengers” back in the spring, Guadagnino stepped back into cinemas with “Queer” and, no disrespect to a film that made a whole generation thirsty for tennis, I think it’s superior and not just to “Challengers”. I think that “Queer’s” mesmerizing storytelling, compelling characters and unique vibrations make it the director’s strongest work since making his big splash from fame in Italian cinemas to cinemas worldwide with “Call Me By Your Name”. 

Based on William S. Burroughs’ novella, William Lee is an American writer living in Mexico City who spends his days drinking, conversing with other intellectual expatriates and pursuing romantic encounters with younger men. After meeting a G.I. named Eugene Allerton, Lee pursues a much deeper relationship with him as the pair become inseparable and travel on some wild adventures through the most remote areas of the hemisphere, taking in all manner of sights, words and substances. 

With the original book being heavily autobiographical and tying deeply into the experiences of the troubled famed writer of the Beat Generation, alongside contemporaries like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, “Queer” certainly has the feel of a “Beat” narrative. Many of the classic works of the Beat Generation reflected on the state of Americans after World War II as existential questions were raised. In the case of Lee, he is content in his ways of drinking and a revolving door of lovers but it feels more compulsive than anything else. Daniel Craig is magnetic as this character and conveys that carefree attitude of the Beats while also meshing it with the influences of The Lost Generation that had an influence on Burroughs. With the way Lee walks around with his pistol and the amount he drinks, the bravado attached to the legend of Ernest Hemingway feels very much a part of this character. 

But with this wayward spirit, it makes it all the more compelling when you see Lee actually care for someone and put forth an earnest effort to pursue them. Drew Starkey’s performance keeps you at a distance and that feels very much by design, as if no matter how close Lee gets to Allerton, there’s always this feeling that it’s unattainable. But as the pair go off together and pursue a higher goal in various locations, you want to know how long this can go on before it either reaches final form or collapses in a frightening blaze. 

It’s frustrating to discuss “Queer” mainly because of how much the film keeps unveiling every scene and how integral it is to go into this film blind. The film is divided up into chapters and the beginning and end of each chapter feels almost unreal. In any other world, there’s no way that this film could start in this situation and then end with something wildly different but that’s the unpredictable magic of “Queer”. Guadagnino reunites with screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, having just made “Challengers” together, and the frenetic energy of their previous collaboration is very much present in “Queer”. 

Several vital crew members from “Challengers” and other Guadagnino projects, like cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom and editor Marco Costa, return for this film and it’s a good thing too because Guadagnino is working with so many ideas in “Queer” that a crew used to his style of working is the only one that could do it justice. Not only does Guadagnino combine the style of the Beat Generation with earlier styles of writing but there’s also influences of the later psychedelia and even more unexpected voices. There are scenes in the film that are set to the music of Nirvana and yet all of these different ideas gel superbly. In fact, it gives the film this feeling of controlled chaos which is perfect for a subject like William S. Burroughs. 

Watching “Queer” felt like seeing Luca Guadagnino make his own version of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” but it never comes across as a pale imitation. This is mainly due to the fundamental difference in what the provincial characters find themselves running from with their vices and torment. In “Fear and Loathing”, Hunter S. Thompson’s alter-ego Raoul Duke was trying to escape and also understand the chaos of the world around him as the hope and promise of the 1960s deteriorated into the cynicism of the Nixon-rich years of the 70s. In “Queer”, Lee is trying to run from himself in a masochistic manner as he confronts his shortcomings with addiction and crippling loneliness. But what both films have in common is an excellent understanding of the source material while also having the filmmakers put their own weird stamp of artistic expression on the adaptation. 

As much as “Challengers” blew my mind with a mesmerizing character dynamic, fun camera wizardry and stellar sound design, I found myself far more entranced by this film. Its themes and struggles surrounding Lee resulted in a character that I found endearing at times while other scenes had me wanting to throttle him. But there was always a desire to see what happened next and to wonder if Lee would achieve any real happiness, if such a thing were ever in his cards.