"Queer” - Film Review
In his second film of the year, Luca Guadagnino, along with his regular screenwriting collaborator Justin Kuritzkes, has adapted William S. Burroughs’s novel Queer. The book and the film are centered on an American expat, William (Daniel Craig), living in Mexico City in the 1940s. He spends his days drinking, talking with friends, and finding men to take back to hotels. William becomes infatuated with a fellow, but much younger, expat named Allerton (Drew Starkey). The two begin spending almost all of their time together as William plans to make an excursion to South America to find a drug called yage (also known as ayahuasca).
Earlier this year, Guadagnino released what might be his most accessible film, Challengers. Queer is a far cry from the tennis love triangle flick in terms of winning over the court of public opinion. Burroughs himself isn’t known for making art that’s easily digestible. His novels are categorized as experimental and, while not always completely accurate, based on his life as a heroin addict. Guadagnino’s film turns experimental in the film’s last act, with a number of visuals that only make sense if the viewer isn’t just familiar with Burroughs’ novel, but with aspects of his real life as well.
courtesy of TIFF
What makes Queer as successful as it is comes from the performances of Craig and Starkey. It’s a genuine thrill to see Craig in a dramatic role now that his time as James Bond has come to an end. He buries himself in the character of William, embodying the man in a way that is magnetic. However, it’s Starkey who is the film’s real secret asset. Having not watched the teen soap opera Outer Banks on Netflix, Starkey feels a bit like an unknown. His Allerton is elusive and alluring. It’s no surprise that William becomes infatuated with Allerton. There’s something quietly captivating in the way Starkey moves across the screen so gracefully, and seemingly without trying.
As marvelous as Starkey is in this role, it’s the character of Allerton that proves to be Queer’s most confounding component. Not much is known about the real man who served as Burroughs’ inspiration for Allerton, and Queer similarly doesn’t flesh out the role. Much of the film is spent watching Williams mold his life around Allerton, but the audience knows so very little about why. One would hope that it’s something more than physical attraction, but that seems to be all Queer has to offer.
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