No one has the same disciplined work ethic in Hollywood as Luca Guardagnino (except perhaps Ayo Edebiri, who ironically will star in his next film). It almost feels like the Italian director, who has acclaimed films like ‘Call Me By Your Name’, ‘Bones and All’ and most recently the superb ‘Challengers’ under his belt, is making a new film at least once a month. (But at least as many films as are announced never actually get made. This year, there’s an oddity: since ‘Challengers’ was postponed due to the actors‘ strike so that Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor could get enough press, which has paid off handsomely for their characters’ love triangle, his latest work, which is adapted from the book of the same name by William S. Burrough, premiered to a nearly 10-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival premiere with Oscar buzz for Daniel Craig.
What immediately sets it apart from the aforementioned films in Guadagnino’s filmography and ‘Queer’, however, is its accessibility. Anyone who thinks it’s going in the direction of ‘Call Me By Your Name’ because of what appears to be the gay age gap romance is quickly proved wrong. Although this time it’s about the older part chasing after the young one, it soon becomes clear from the second half whether the film will appeal to personal tastes.
The two main characters meet in the ‘Ship Ahoy’ bar in New Mexico and a game of cat and mouse full of lust and tension ensues, as you would expect from a director. Passion and eroticism are paired with tenderness and ignite an electricity that only Luca Guadagnino can achieve with his characters. He drives Daniel Craig in particular to peak performances, he has never felt relaxed and cool – and we’re still talking about the guy who has already tickled James Bond and Benoit Blanc out of himself. To Nirvana’s ‘Come As You Are’, his character William Lee lays down an opening that will undoubtedly elevate him to a QUEER icon (as if he wasn’t already).
Craig and his counterpart Drew Starkey are depicted in the most beautiful dimmed neon lights and dream-like sequences that could undoubtedly have sprung from ‘Poor Things’, a ‘The Shape of Water’ or even a Pedro Almodovar film. His cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, who has already worked with him on ‘Call Me By Your Name’, ‘Suspiria’ and ‘Challengers’, captures some of the most beautiful images of the entire year, and screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes from ‘Challengers’ is also at the start again, but instead of continuing in the spirit of past films, a story is told that borrows from David Lynch and turns into a horny, nerdy and sad ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ – yes, it’s just as insane as it sounds. Musical geniuses Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are as always on board as well.
A trip of a completely different kind, addictions to be mastered and a lonely man seeking validation. The secret star sadly with very little screentime is actor Jason Schwartzman (as a fat Tom Cruise á la ‘Tropic Thunder’ impersonator), who steals every single scene given to him. There’s far more here than just asking what it means to be queer; it’s about weightlessness and floating, being afraid to express your feelings, reckoning with prejudice and showing off through knowledge – all while a Western filmmaker finally shows that New Mexico and South America can be far more than a yellowish Netflix filter. The landscape and its culture are full of the will to live. Can a connection between queer people work or will the desire for a drug far stronger than sex destroy everything?
“Queer” is an explosion, both for its characters and for your own senses, you get intoxicated, so much so that this drug can do too much damage.
