Queer
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Writer: Justin Kuritzkes
Based on: William S. Burroughs’ novel
Cast: Daniel Craig, Daan de Wit, Jason Schwartzman, Henrique Zaga, Colin Bates, Drew Starkey, Lesley Manville
Seen on: 4./5.10.2025

Plot:
William Lee (Daniel Craig) lives in Mexico City. A writer, he spends most of his time high on heroin, drinking in bars with other US-Americans and looking at much younger men. Men like Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) who immediately draws his eye. Allerton seems receptive to Lee’s flirting at times, and at others he seems completely cold. Nevertheless, the two become closer.

I have been avoiding Queer a little, I will admit. While I do like Guadagnino as a director and Daniel Craig as an actor, I usually don’t connect with this sort of drug-fueled movies, whether drama or comedy. But in the end, my curiosity won me over. My hesitation about the film proved to be warranted, though.

Guadagnino has always been a filmmaker for moods. Whatever else he does, he captures the feeling, the atmosphere of where his story takes place, both literally and emotionally. That is also the case here in Queer. The trouble is: it is not really a place I want to be: high, sweaty, depressed and lacking a direction in life.

That being said, Guadagnino captures this feeling beautifully. The movie is at its best though, when it tries to show Lee’s desire, his longing for real intimacy, for closeness, for love. I particularly loved the few and thankfully not overdone moments where a shadowy Lee is superimposed over the Lee that is there, reaching for and touching what seems unavailable in real life.

Craig gives the role his all. It is a very physical performance in many ways and he leans into that aspect. It’s a great performance, but we nevertheless remain at a distance from Lee. Part of it is because he makes it so: in all of his desire to be close to anyone, his drug use keeps everybody at bay, including the audience. But another part is that the movie often seems just as stuck as Lee, going in circles and never really ending up anywhere but the next drug trip.

There is somewhat of a happier ending than I expected, but I just didn’t care enough about any of the characters for it to really have an emotional impact. I would have needed a little more than atmosphere for this movie to really work.

Summarizing: well-made but exhausting with little pay-off.