'Queer' review: Daniel Craig's narcissistic expat tests our patience in lush but overlong love story
In the opening credits sequence of Luca Guadagnino’s lush and gorgeous but overlong and pretentious “Queer,” we hear Sinead O’Connor’s mournful rendition of Nirvana’s “All Apologies” as the camera fixates on props from a life, perhaps two lives: pairs of sunglasses, packs of cigarettes, a neatly arranged grouping of handguns, etc. It’s the first indication this will be a film that pays extraordinary attention to detail and will make the screen pop, as is the case with all of Guadagnino’s films, including such triumphs as “Call Me by Your Name” (2017) and “Challengers” from earlier this year.The problem is, despite all the stunning and deliberately stagey period-piece visuals and the all-out performance from Daniel Craig that is sure to ignite awards conversations, “Queer” is something of an artsy slog over its 135-minute running time, requiring us to spend just too much time with a man who is not only a boor but, more problematically, a BORE.Craig is nothing short of brilliant as an alcoholic, heroin-addicted expat roaming the streets and bars of Mexico City in the early 1950s, but while there’s something undeniably affecting and heartbreaking about this man’s realization that the love of his life will never feel the same way about him, he’s such a narcissistic, tedious and off-putting mess that we find it difficult to believe anyone would want to be in his company for any extended period of time. 'Queer' A24 presents a film directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes, based on the novel by William S. Burroughs. Running time: 135 minutes. Rated R (for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, strong drug content, language and brief violence). Opens Thursday at local theaters. Director Guadagnino and cinematographer and frequent collaborator Sayombhu Mukdeeprom create a unique tableau, utilizing obvious soundstage settings, hallucinogenic and dream sequences, and miniatures to create a dreamlike and vibrant world. With Justin Kuritzkes (who also penned “Challengers”) adapting William S. Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical novella of the same name, “Queer” can take even the simplest of sequences and make them look cinematic and intriguing, as in an early moment when Daniel Craig’s rumpled, pistol-packing William Lee, looking for all the world like a film noir private eye, makes his way down a street to the sounds of Nirvana’s “Come as You Are.” (This will not be the last anachronistic marriage of music and time-period visuals.)We don’t know much about William’s back story, other than he is a writer of semi-comfortable means who now spends his days and nights glimmering in sweat, pounding down booze, shooting up heroin and cruising the bars and private clubs for one-night assignations. One night, Lee is stumbling home when he comes upon a cockfight in the street — and catches a glimpse of one Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), a handsome and enigmatic young man. (With his round spectacles and angular handsomeness, Starkey looks like a digitally de-aged Scott Glenn.) Lee is instantly struck, and he begins a days-long pursuit of Eugene, who spends much of his time playing chess with a red-headed woman who might or might not be his girlfriend but keeps returning Lee’s gaze just long enough to encourage the older man. When Lee and Eugene finally hook up, it’s with a pulp-fever passion — yet Lee never deludes himself into believing this affair will be endless. He’ll be consumed with his love of Eugene for the rest of his life, while Eugene will be long gone.Not yet though. For now, they’re together, and after a bit of persuasion and salesmanship on Lee’s part, Eugene agrees to accompany Lee into the jungles of South America, on a quest for a mystery substance the locals called yagé aka ayahuasca. Lee has heard stories of yagé opening the doors to telepathy, and he is obsessed with finding out for himself if this is true. Related Daniel Craig’s ‘Glass Onion’ not as sharp as ‘Knives Out’ but still will please the crowds This is when “Queer” segues from a languid and mildly interesting if uneven character study into a manic trip down the rabbit hole that plays like a somewhat cheesy 20th century adventure saga with influences ranging from Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” to “Apocalypse Now” with a sprinkling of the B-movie “Anaconda,” I kid you not. The great Lesley Manville hams it up as the yagé sage Dr. Cotter, w
In the opening credits sequence of Luca Guadagnino’s lush and gorgeous but overlong and pretentious “Queer,” we hear Sinead O’Connor’s mournful rendition of Nirvana’s “All Apologies” as the camera fixates on props from a life, perhaps two lives: pairs of sunglasses, packs of cigarettes, a neatly arranged grouping of handguns, etc. It’s the first indication this will be a film that pays extraordinary attention to detail and will make the screen pop, as is the case with all of Guadagnino’s films, including such triumphs as “Call Me by Your Name” (2017) and “Challengers” from earlier this year.
The problem is, despite all the stunning and deliberately stagey period-piece visuals and the all-out performance from Daniel Craig that is sure to ignite awards conversations, “Queer” is something of an artsy slog over its 135-minute running time, requiring us to spend just too much time with a man who is not only a boor but, more problematically, a BORE.
Craig is nothing short of brilliant as an alcoholic, heroin-addicted expat roaming the streets and bars of Mexico City in the early 1950s, but while there’s something undeniably affecting and heartbreaking about this man’s realization that the love of his life will never feel the same way about him, he’s such a narcissistic, tedious and off-putting mess that we find it difficult to believe anyone would want to be in his company for any extended period of time.
Director Guadagnino and cinematographer and frequent collaborator Sayombhu Mukdeeprom create a unique tableau, utilizing obvious soundstage settings, hallucinogenic and dream sequences, and miniatures to create a dreamlike and vibrant world. With Justin Kuritzkes (who also penned “Challengers”) adapting William S. Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical novella of the same name, “Queer” can take even the simplest of sequences and make them look cinematic and intriguing, as in an early moment when Daniel Craig’s rumpled, pistol-packing William Lee, looking for all the world like a film noir private eye, makes his way down a street to the sounds of Nirvana’s “Come as You Are.” (This will not be the last anachronistic marriage of music and time-period visuals.)
We don’t know much about William’s back story, other than he is a writer of semi-comfortable means who now spends his days and nights glimmering in sweat, pounding down booze, shooting up heroin and cruising the bars and private clubs for one-night assignations. One night, Lee is stumbling home when he comes upon a cockfight in the street — and catches a glimpse of one Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), a handsome and enigmatic young man. (With his round spectacles and angular handsomeness, Starkey looks like a digitally de-aged Scott Glenn.)
Lee is instantly struck, and he begins a days-long pursuit of Eugene, who spends much of his time playing chess with a red-headed woman who might or might not be his girlfriend but keeps returning Lee’s gaze just long enough to encourage the older man. When Lee and Eugene finally hook up, it’s with a pulp-fever passion — yet Lee never deludes himself into believing this affair will be endless. He’ll be consumed with his love of Eugene for the rest of his life, while Eugene will be long gone.
Not yet though. For now, they’re together, and after a bit of persuasion and salesmanship on Lee’s part, Eugene agrees to accompany Lee into the jungles of South America, on a quest for a mystery substance the locals called yagé aka ayahuasca. Lee has heard stories of yagé opening the doors to telepathy, and he is obsessed with finding out for himself if this is true.
This is when “Queer” segues from a languid and mildly interesting if uneven character study into a manic trip down the rabbit hole that plays like a somewhat cheesy 20th century adventure saga with influences ranging from Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” to “Apocalypse Now” with a sprinkling of the B-movie “Anaconda,” I kid you not.
The great Lesley Manville hams it up as the yagé sage Dr. Cotter, who is covered with grime and lives with a strange partner (Lisandro Alonso) who almost never speaks and has a large pet sloth, although I don't think the sloth knows it's a pet. Dr. Cotter agrees to serve up some yagé to Lee and Eugene, and this leads to some wild and quite insane visuals. Let’s just say Eugene and Lee become as one.
Even when the characters are caked in mud and drenched in sweat, there’s something almost prettified about the imagery in this film. Manville is fun, and we’re treated to some welcome comic relief in the form of Jason Schwartzman’s Joe, an Allen Ginsberg type who is forever complaining about lovers that steal his things. Craig is a force if at times overly theatrical, while Starkey is playing something of a cipher who is a relatively inaccessible character, and not terribly intriguing. “Queer” is a good-looking film with moments of great promise that is much like Lee in that it wears out its welcome and tries your patience far too often.
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