Films for Breakfast

Luca Guadagnino is one of the busiest guys in the film industry at the moment. Earlier this year, he delivered an absolute masterpiece with his film Challengers and is currently deep in post-production for his next film After the Hunt. However, there’s no break for him in-between those two films – just another quietly great film starring Daniel Craig called Queer. I don’t know how he does it. Based on the novella of the same name by William S. Burroughs, Queer follows William Lee (Daniel Craig), an expat in Mexico City in 1950. Lee spends most of his days and nights alone, except for a few American friends he’s made locally. After an encounter with the mysterious Eugene (Drew Starkey), Lee realizes it might be possible to establish a genuine connection with another person.

Perhaps the most admirable and impressive thing in Luca Guadagnino’s toolbelt as a filmmaker is his genre fluidity – it truly feels like he can make almost any type of film, never beholden to one singular style or tone. Queer feels more akin to something like Call Me By Your Name with a hint of the surrealism and tension of A Bigger Splash; but also feels entirely different than either of those. To adapt a William S. Burroughs novel, you have to be this kind of filmmaker – and Guadagnino understands the assignment tenfold. His direction feels assured and radical in equal measure, conveying the loneliness and narcissism in Lee as a character, brilliantly visualizing his wants, desires, and isolation in nearly every frame.

Daniel Craig has had a pretty fascinating career over the last decade, but Queer may be one of his finest performances to date. There’s a genuine sense of vulnerability and rawness to this performance where it feels less like you’re watching Daniel Craig play a character, but that you’re actually peeking into the life of a man named William Lee in the 1950s. Even in the films’ most surreal moments, Craig bleeds his heart out into the role with such authenticity and a wide range of emotions on display. Drew Starkey is as equally compelling here as Eugene, and the two share some really lovely chemistry with one-another.

The first half of this film completely coasts off vibes – you simply live in the life of William Lee for an hour, wandering the streets and nightlife of Mexico City with him. A big factor as to why this works as well as it does is due to the incredible soundtrack, both the needledrop choices and the score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. On top of this, the film is absolutely gorgeous to look at – with stunning cinematography from DP Sayombhu Mukdeeprom and absolutely remarkable production design; truly, the use of miniature sets in this film is one of the most dazzling things I’ve seen in a film all-year.

The second half of the film pivots into an entirely different scenario and location for the characters. I won’t spoil too much as I didn’t know what turn the film was taking, but it’s very much a shift that may lose a majority of its audience that was with the film from the get-go. However, it’s in the latter half of the film that I feel like the film truly comes into its own and gets to the nitty-gritty of being a character study for William Lee as a character. It’s within this section of the film that you get to know both his best and worst elements as a person, as well as seeing him grapple with things he doesn’t quite understand about himself. The film isn’t afraid to go fully abstract and mysterious within these moments, and is all the better for it.

I don’t have a lot of gripes against the film – it’s not lost on me that the film is deliberately cold and distant from its audience as a choice at times; a choice that I admire! This does prevent me from fully loving the film as it feels too distant to fully adore, but it doesn’t take away from how objectively impressive the entire experience is. Luca has undeniably mastered the craft of filmmaking at this point, taking pointers from Spielberg in terms of filmmaking durability. Queer is one of the most impressive and singular films of the year – well worth your time!

4/5