He’s not Bond — he’s disembodied
Shady goings-on: Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey in Queer (2024) dir. Luca Guadagnino
In one of his most compelling leads, Daniel Craig helms Queer, Luca Guadagnino’s ninth feature as Lee, the protagonist of W. S. Burroughs’ 1985 novel. As a slow-burn, highly explicit gay romance, it is one of the more marked departures from Bond that Craig could embark on. Guadagnino himself, though, is in familiar territory, and is showing the fruits of his new creative partnership with the same screenwriter, composer and costume designer from Challengers. It is clear this particular creative team has an eye for indulgence. This is for better and for worse.
The uncertainness and dislocation of ex-pats like Lee and Eugene (a reserved, hard-to-read Drew Starkey) in 1940s Mexico is rendered with an inviting humour, and with a range of tones, from consensually seedy to life-affirming. Similarly wide-reaching is the expansive score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, supplemented by some gloriously anachronistic needle-drops (Nirvana, Prince, New Order… the list goes on).
The inclusion of Nirvana specifically bolsters the film's commentary on a quintessentially American collapse in connection, and its dark inverse, addiction. Lee’s substance abuses become clear only an hour in, anchoring the film’s focus on a strain of consumptive male loneliness, with one exquisite zoom shot of Lee after he shoots up.
Lee’s disconnection, channelled in his obsession with telepathy — and other ways of talking without speaking — paves the way for Queer’s ambitious if sporadic turns. As in Call Me By Your Name, there are fits and bursts of weighty imagery that threaten too strong a departure from the human drama. And the journey into the jungle later doesn’t fit together that smoothly.
But the most impressive aspect of the film is Craig himself. The discussion around Demi Moore’s incredibly bold performance in The Substance, serving itself as a meta-commentary on her own career, feels relevant here. Craig transforming from the archetypal, hyper-masculine British action hero of Bond into a beautifully complex character, by turns composed and pathetic, funny and depressing, is a similarly exciting and important cinematic moment.