Movie Review: Queer

After first encountering his work with 2009’s sumptuous I Am Love and then again in 2017’s wondrous Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino has become one of my personal favorite directors. That circumstances led to him gifting us with two films in 2024 had me elated, and now even more so since I can safely say that both Challengers and Queer are fantastic in very different ways.

Based on the novella by William S. Burroughs, Queer follows William Lee, a character based at least to some degree on the author himself and here played by Daniel Craig, giving a performance for the ages. Addicted to opiates, Lee has fled to Mexico City to avoid prosecution in the United States, and spends his time roaming the neighborhood bars, becoming increasingly intoxicated, and attempting to fend off his deep feelings of loneliness and self-loathing by seeking out sexual encounters with attractive, younger men.

When he spots discharged American Navy serviceman Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) from across the room in one of his favorite bars, he immediately becomes infatuated with him, even though his awkward initial attempts at an introduction seem to be rebuffed. In short order however, he manages to corral the man into a conversation and ultimately befriend and seduce him, setting them into a lopsided and strained relationship.

Allerton has only recently begun to explore his sexuality, and while he enjoys his time with Lee, he often finds the older man’s neediness to be exhausting and will sometimes try to avoid him altogether for days at a time. Lee confides in his friend Joe (an almost unrecognizably schlubby but comically endearing Jason Schwartzman) that he is sometimes confounded by this behavior, yet still his infatuation continues to grow nearly to the point of obsession.

Simultaneously, Lee has become interested in a drug out of South America called yage (aka ayahuasca) that is being studied for its potential to enable telepathy in those who consume it. When he convinces Allerton to accompany him on a journey to find it, the movie goes into some unexpectedly surreal and thought-provoking directions and features a fittingly zany appearance by Lesley Manville as a doctor studying the drug in the jungle.

Due to our main character’s near-constant state of inebriation, Guadagnino and writer Justin Kuritzkes (who also wrote Challengers) often blur the lines between reality and hallucinations, using that uncertainty to push audiences into Lee’s frame of mind. Using models instead of aerial shots and lush matte-style paintings for backgrounds enhances the feeling and adds to the movie’s beauty, while the score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross veers between period-appropriate and anachronistic to brilliant effect.

As with Burroughs’ writing, this movie will not be everyone’s cup of tea. Guadagnino has made some bold decisions, but those who can vibe with what he’s crafted will be rewarded with a memorable and provocative examination of love, lust, and loneliness, that toys with artifice as it becomes increasingly trippy and paradoxically more intensely personal. The final moments are thick with symbolism that drives home Lee’s inescapable despair. It’s not as accessible as the director’s other recent efforts, but it’s every bit as magnificent and will have viewers pondering its mysteries for days afterwards. ★★★★★