Trying to capture an author’s literary style into moving pictures is a challenging task. When that author is no less than William S. Burroughs, with his surrealist flares and unique pace, it becomes even more difficult, borderline impossible. David Cronenberg already tried with Naked Lunch in 1991, with questionable results. Now, Luca Guadagnino brings to the silver screen the autobiographical Queer.
Daniel Craig stars as William S. Burroughs’s alter-ego William Lee, self-exiled in the underbelly of Mexico City due to his addictions- sex and drugs. Wasting his days drinking with other american outcasts and struggling with his abstinence from flesh and heroine, he meets the young Eugene Allerton with whom he aims to establish a deeper, visceral connection. The labyrinth of his mind mirrors the intricate trails in the jungle, mixing hallucinations and memories, people and nightmares. This leads to a dance of seduction and incandescent desire, where tears and sweat become a single drop in the tropical weather of this forgotten place. The director places a lot of emphasis on the South American exotic moods, trying to recreate the mythical atmospheres of the deranged, godforsaken, muddy bars of Wages of Fear, but eventually does not manage to get rid of that neat, delicate aesthetic that marks his works.
Yet, Guadagnino takes some risks in his adaptation, boasting a remarkably hypnotic, experimental psychedelic sequence, the highlight of the picture, when Lee drinks ayahuasca, as well as some explicit sex scenes. Seeing the former 007 getting sticky with another man might feel particularly paradoxical, and despite Daniel Craig’s strong performance, he struggles to scroll off the coolness from his previous roles, remaining too invulnerable.
There are several admirable scenes, but overall they don’t quite gel together. Perhaps there was too much material left on the cutting room floor, that it would have allowed a smoother feel while watching it. As it stands, with its 135 minutes, it rarely has the chance to breathe. The comparison to Guadagnino’s most successful film is inevitable, and to an extent Queer could be considered a more mature, spiritual sequel to Call Me By Your Name, where the unquenchable thirst for the male body looses its innocent curiosity to acquire a darker dimension of shame and damnation.
3/5
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