20/20
Close-up reference: Why do we need the Venice Film Festival?
Narrative
Lee, who recounts his life in Mexico City among American expat college students and bar owners who survived on part-time jobs and GI Bill benefits. He is forced to pursue a young man named Allerton, based on Adelbert Lewis Marker. IMDb editor Arno Kazarian offers a quick rundown of the 12 films he screened at the 2024 New York Film Festival, including Anora and the dangerous, oddly erotic Misericordia. .. Luca Guadagnino stated in an interview that Queer is a project he has wanted to implement since he was 20 years old. (2024).
to drugs and alcohol
QUEER has strong rhymes from the same director as CALL ME BY YOUR NAME. The central character of both films is unequivocally gay, while the object of his desire is more difficult to define. As in the previous film, we are not in America, but among Americans. However, while CALL ME BY YOUR NAME’s protagonist was a sexually pulsating teenager, here we’re focused on a middle-aged writer with an addiction. He is played perfectly by Daniel Craig. The first part of QUEER features a who-will-they?/won't-they as Craig’s character William Lee yearns for fresh-faced ex-soldier Eugene Allerton, played brilliantly by Drew Starkey.
With great support from Jason Schwartzman and
Drew Droge, playing the other denizens of the local cafes and bars, keeps the film moving at a steady pace. The writing (Justin Couric, based on the book by William S. Burrough) and direction are as assured as expected. But the final third of the film kicks into another gear as Lee and Allerton go on a field trip to find a plant that Lee realizes can unleash human telepathy. This unlikely adventure eventually leads to an encounter with a certain Dr. Cotter, whom they find deep in the jungle while doing research.
She is just great
Dr. Cotter is played in an amazing performance by the brilliant Leslie Manville, who is initially unrecognizable, so complete is her transformation. It’s fascinating that even a great actor like Daniel Craig is unfortunately somewhat undercut by a great actor like Manville in a part that shows him to his fullest advantage. She does nothing but her job. Give this woman an Oscar, please. QUEER is crafted with great care, has many remarkable sequences, and, as Guardanino himself has pointed out, owes an interesting debt to the work of Michael Powell and Emerick Pressburger.
It’s worth seeing
It is a film about a deep desire to make contact, even to the extent of fusion, with another human being. In that sense, like the best of Powell and Pressburger, it’s very romantic. Some may find this excessive. I think the difference between, say, BLACK NARCISSUS or A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH and this movie is that I walked away just watching QUEER, not being blown away by it, like I was with CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, which is, admittedly, a lesser movie. Go check out QUEER though. See the full lineup for the 62nd New York Film Festival this fall.