13/19

William Lee: Sit Down!

Synopsis

In 1950s Mexico City, an American immigrant in his late 50s leads a solitary life amidst a small American community. However, the arrival of a young student finally leads the man to make a meaningful connection with someone. Daniel Craig was the one who finally convinced Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey after watching audition tapes with Guadagnino and telling him “That’s the guy” after seeing Starkey. Or What’s Left of It After Four Years in the Navy. Featured on The Graham Norton Show: Daniel Craig/Nicola Coughlan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Flo (2024).

The casual moviegoer will not be happy after watching Queer

However, you will find it worth a watch if you are interested in one or more of the following: 1) The life and writings of Wm. S. Burroughs; 2) The Beat Generation in general; 3) The sociology of gay culture, especially the challenges faced by sexually active older gay men; 4) Artistic depictions of addiction and psychedelic experience; 5) Art direction and production values ​​in arthouse cinema; 6) Daniel Craig breaking the bonds of his Bond legacy in spectacular fashion; 7) The director of Call Me By Your Name tackling another, but very different, gay relationship. So, plenty of possibilities for what you might be drawn to. If you’re a Burroughs aficionado, you’ll find the film largely faithful to the book.

Is Allerton straight?

Craig captures the desperation of Burroughs’ surrogate Bill Lee as he seeks physical connection with a variety of disinterested young men in 1950s Mexico City. Drew Starkey is Eugene Allerton, the enigmatic drifter on whom Lee fixates. Gay? Bi? An open-minded sexual adventurer or perhaps even a calculating and skilled drug lord?

Whether this intrigues or frustrates viewers will depend on their personal cinematic expectations

Their shifting responses to Lee’s advances are open to different interpretations and provide much of the narrative’s fascination. Based on Burroughs’s real-life experiences, we follow this mismatched pair through their hot, then cold, then transactional couplings, leading to a surreal quest through a South American jungle in search of a legendary psychedelic plant. The production is beautifully designed and a feast for the eyes, with realism eschewed for a hyper-fakeness that heightens the aura of a world experienced by a dysfunctional addict and sexual adventurer. Craig seems suitably degraded and obsessive, while his somewhat nerdy lover vaguely resembles a young, bespectacled Burroughs. As events become increasingly surreal, some viewers will be reminded of the enigmatic denouement of Kubrick’s 2001, A Space Odyssey, but with the clean-cut astronauts replaced by the morally compromised denizens of Mexico City’s underworld.

Others, like myself, will yearn for a second or even third viewing of this challenging work

There will be many who, having seen this latest effort from director Luca Guadagnino, will wish they hadn’t bothered.

SKELETON CREW TORRENT