Written by Dilan Fernando

Warning: The following review is of a film that is part of TIFF 2024 and may contain spoilers for Queer. Reader discretion is advised.

Drink, smoke, shoot a load. This is the violent psychosexual cycle that William Lee (Daniel Craig) has been accustomed to. Amidst this way of life he hopes to find love, one so passionate that it will reset the entire cycle and give him a sense of place. Luca Guadagnino’s new film Queer (2024) is the follow-up to Challengers (2024) released earlier this year. Both films show the pursuits of characters in their quest for deep-emotional connection, rivalled by lust, forbidden desire, and psychological well-being. Lee is an American expatriate drifting around 1940s Mexico City after a sudden exodus from New Orleans. Spending his days in a cantina which provides all the comforts of home - alcohol, cigarettes, entertaining conversation and a plethora of bar patrons. The bar owners scrape by with what little profits they generate from the American college students and American expatriates spending their GI Bill benefits.

The design of the cantina paints a cheery atmosphere though many of the patrons are there with a purpose, trysts. Lee fits well into the environment of carnality, eyeing possibilities for liaisons as a means to alleviate his emotional repression. A dangerous concoction of tequila and tobacco are required for Lee to build up his confidence to achieve his goals. When his attempts fail, the concoction awaits to ease his suffering, causing Lee to continuously build a tolerance and succumb to a slow death by his preferred poisons.

Joe (Jason Schwartzman), Lee’s gay best friend and his soulful lifeline, helps him to make sense of the direction he’s chosen. Joe’s entertaining performance provides comedic levity to a film that desperately needs it, preventing it from becoming a dreary, brooding, character study of one’s voyage toward creative expression. Throughout the film, Joe has many affairs and trysts, living a young bachelor’s lifestyle; acknowledging that his personality is his best quality rather than his physicality. Lee is in great physical shape but is emotionally inept, lacking the communication skills to translate his feelings. Lee walks around under a dark cloud of black tar, carrying a pistol on his hip, both of which are his survival instincts.

Scanning the drunken buzzards of older gay gentlemen scattered around the cantina, Lee notices sitting alone at a table, a young white-clad man Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) drinking and smoking. Lee downs the last of his drink and grabs his cigarettes, heading over to greet the young man. Their conversation proves there’s genuine chemistry between the men, with Lee’s implicity causing Eugene to become more distant. Lee strives to be with Eugene on every level humanly possible - physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Eugene possesses something that Lee hopes to regain, his youth. It’s understandable why Guadagnino cast Starkey to play Eugene, listening to Craig who after watching Starkey’s screen test said, “That’s the guy.” Eugene’s appearance in the film is a conscious albeit lazy attempt to convey to the audience that Lee is both egotistical and narcissistic. With such a deep-hatred and self-loathing infatuation with himself that he seeks to be with himself. When Lee and Eugene finally have sex, it’s euphoric for both of them. Even afterward when they bask in the afterglow, Gudagnino frames the pair sitting side-by-side on a couch – another direct reference to each man being half of a single persona.

Lee tries desperately to build a relationship out of this night of passion, while Eugene shows interest in a young redheaded woman prioritising time with her over Lee. After coming to this realisation Lee returns home. Guadagnino frames an unbroken shot of the ceremonious preparation and administering of the medicine coursing through his veins, creating an opportunity to meditate and contemplate. This scene is a beautiful example of the dark poetry that is present within William S. Burroughs' writing with visuals that match the emotion of the scene. Lee hatches a plan to reestablish a connection with Eugene, offering him a proposal over dinner one evening, to accompany him on a trip to Peru.

Throughout the trip the pair backpack, sightsee, and enjoy each other’s company across different cities. One scene shows Lee making great strides toward a relationship by enduring withdrawal symptoms. The idea of this scene should only strengthen the possibility of a relationship however, Kuritzkes handling of it makes the scene look like a deleted scene from a more superior road film like Easy Rider (1969) or The Last Detail (1973). If well-written, the scene should play out more like the rehabilitation scene between Joel Edgerton and Quintessa Swindell in Paul Schrader’s Master Gardener (2022). So the audience is along for a ride with characters who have affection for each other and refuse to communicate it, creating a deadlock sequence until the pair reach the Peruvian jungle.

The character study of Lee up until this point has been somewhat interesting, cutting through the thick veins and wild grass that are the subpar scenes of the film, getting to the Peruvian jungle sequence. It’s with this scene that Guadgnino shows his directing ability taking great care of each detail in this sequence, showing when handed the canvas he can churn out some great work. Lee and Eugene arrive at a jungle hut covered in dirt, sweat, and scrapes. They’ve come a long way and gambled by trusting each other. The proprietor of the hut is a reclusive scientist named Dr. Cotter (Lesley Manville) whose greatest discovery in life is a special plant that gives the one who ingests it telekinetic abilities. After being deemed worthy to be subjects for the plant’s usage, Lee and Eugene gather around a fire for a ceremony with Dr. Cotter and her assistant wearing special masks. Each of the four participants consume a wooden bowl filled with the mixture and embark on a great trip. This scene is the most beautiful and most enriching of the entire film.

Gudagnino’s use of natural light, reliance on the actors instincts, and the deep-rooted physicality, emotionality, mentality, and spirituality present within each character blossoms and flourishes before the audience’s very eyes. Its complexity and depth recalls a similar scene in Ken Russell’s Women in Love (1969), with Alan Bates and Carol Reed’s homoerotic relationship being affirmed as they wrestle before a raging fire. Daniel Craig’s performance may be one of the best of the year as he doesn’t shy away from illustrating every emotion and electrical impulse that affects Lee’s being. If only Gudagnino had the restraint to conclude the film following the drug trip sequence it could’ve ended on a hopeful note. Instead, Lee’s left wondering, drifting, searching his memory for a time that’s long since passed.

Dilan Fernando graduated with a degree in Communications from Brock University. ”Written sentiments are more poetic than spoken word. Film will always preserve more than digital could ever. Only after a great film experience can one begin to see all that life has to offer.“