27/22
Mexico City, 1950s. An American immigrant in his fifties lives a lonely life in a small American community. But the arrival of a young college student prompts the man to finally form a meaningful connection with someone. Ultimately, it was Daniel Craig who convinced Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey in the lead role, after watching Guadagnino’s audition tapes and telling him «That’s the guy» after watching Starkey’s film… William Lee: Sit Down! Or What’s Left of Him After Four Years in the Navy. Starring in The Graham Norton Show: Daniel Craig/Nicola Coughlan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Flo (2024). I’ve never seen Naked Lunch (1991), but I often thought of it during a screening of Queer at the London Film Festival in 2024; this is to be expected, since both films were based on William S. Burroughs. In the 1950s… Mexico, William Lee, an American writer on the wrong side of… forty? Fifty? He spends his days getting drunk, taking injections, and having casual sex with other men. One day, a muscular, intelligent young hunk named Eugene walks into a bar, and Lee is smitten. But what does Eugene want? And then there’s that telepathic drug… I’m not sure what style director Luca Guadagnino is going for with this film. The set is decorated almost exclusively in solid colors—for example, muted reds and olive greens—and has this unrealistic, clean, colorful look that made me think the filmmakers intended to pay homage to the films of the era in which the film is set. But if that’s the case, why is the soundtrack decidedly not ’50s rock and techno? Daniel Craig (is it my imagination or is he starting to look like Sid James?) is hamstrung in the lead role as he is constantly forced to deliver meaningless speeches in an accent that is clearly not his own. Drew Starkey is capable of a more subtly manipulative Eugene and certainly looks the part. Lesley Manville is unrecognizable as a doctor living in the South American jungle – kudos to the make-up team! This is the kind of film that I think is more about the artistic style than the storytelling. I watched it once but I don’t intend to watch it again.