QUEER

TIFF 24 REVIEW BY: KURT MORRISON

DATE: SEPTEMBER 26, 2024

RATING: 1 out of 5

I missed Challengers in theatres due to the fact it got gobbled up by all the big tentpole summer releases when May hit. So when I threw it on one night back in July, I was blown away.

The storytelling, the soundtrack, the pace, I was in. Game. Set. Match.

I had finally become a believer of Director Luca Guadagnino.

……

Or so I thought.

Queer continues his exploration of the emotional complexities of individuals, with this adaptation of author William S. Burrough’s 1985 novel of the same name. Starring Daniel Craig as William, we find him fleeing from New Orleans following a drug bust and ending up in Mexico City.

As nights continue to fly drunkenly bye, a newcomer named Eugene Allerton arrives within the Mexico City bar scene and catches William’s attention, and so begins his obsession with gaining the attention of the fresh faced former Naval officer.

His infatuation borders on weird to desperate at times, and Allerton realizes he has the upper hand continually in this sexual game of cat and mouse. It is a fun tension to watch between Craig and Allerton, who is suavely played by Drew Starkey. Starkey has a crisp, handsome coolness to him that doesn’t make it hard to understand why Craig’s William is falling head over heels for him.

Wandering by day, drunk and flirtatious by night, the story plays out as a simple erotic drama between Craig and Starkey for the first half, with some very interesting choices in terms of visuals that are sure to raise some eyebrows when the film gets a wide release.

But suddenly, as the heat turns up on their relationship, the film takes a wild turn that I was not expecting, as William’s omission of truth to Eugene comes head on - that truth being he is an opiate addict. It was confusing for me to see that this became the more central focus in the latter half of the film, with the pair traveling to South America to explore the jungles and find a doctor who specializes in research with Ayahuasca. Yes, for all your Millenials out there - the drug that Joe Rogan painfully talks about every third episode of his podcast. (*eyeroll*)

I truly believe there are two good movies here - one that centres on William’s blossoming relationship with Allerton. And another that deals with William’s addiction problem and him seeking alternative forms of treatment and therapy. But the film’s criss-cross storytelling provides a serious lack of substance for either plot to fully develop, never knowing if it wants to continue with the hard sex and physical gratification or the deep dive into the psyche of an addict. I never feel like I got a chance to invest myself in either, because the film does not know what it wants to focus on. And as their trek to find the Ayahuasca doctor becomes the third act journey, all the adoration and chasing seems to come to a stand still.

Frequent collaborator Sayombhu Mukdeeprom is once again behind the camera for Guadagnino, and this is the first collab of theirs I have not liked in terms of the cinematography. Things don’t have their usual flow like a Guadagnino film should have, and although the lights of Mexico City appear to contrast beautifully with the dark streets and rooms we find William in, the rest of the film feels very backlot and cheap looking, never immersing us in that feeling of 1950’s post World War 2 Mexico. What’s odd to me was finding out this film had a $50 million+ budget, yet it feels like it was made for $5 million.

The film meanders for far too long, and doesn't offer up the usual intrigue that most of Guadagnino's films often provide so the runtime feels very drawn out. From what I am hearing, the film sticks very closely to the source material so perhaps this is why a two and a half hour runtime was necessary.

Guadagnino once again serves up an interesting soundtrack, with a mix of everything from Nirvana to Prince - none of which I love. At all.

Nothing about the song choices make sense, especially considering most of the songs were made 30+ years after the film is set to take place but also don’t play to the inner workings of the scene. FOLKS, ‘MUSICOLOGY’ BY PRINCE IS A FUCKING BANGER. Don’t believe me?? Go listen to it now on Youtube or Spotify. Even when it came on screen during a scene, I was bobbing my head…. Then came back down to reality trying to figure out why drunk Daniel Craig is stumbling to this particular song.

All the while, the flashes of the score composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are phenomenal and feel GRAVELY underused. Stylistically, it made no sense to me to not get them to score the majority of the film and opt to not use such familiar tracks. Listen, I am no creative genius, but even if Reznor and Ross had created/scored synth or orchestral versions of said Nirvana or Prince songs instead of using the actual audio tracks, it would have been a cleverly subtle nod for those of us watching to figure out.

Queer feels like such a step back after such a fiery start to 2024 for Guadagnino. Yes, I know it is a festival darling at both Venice and here in Toronto, but I am not a fan of this film at all.

Like I said, it lacks both style and substance and doesn’t use some of its key story elements properly, creating a pretentious and convoluting two and a half hour snooze. Nothing about it feels heartfelt like a Call Me By Your Name, and it pushes the sexual envelope just to say it has something interesting to offer on screen.

Luca, we will always have Challengers together….. and for that dear boy, I am grateful.