The awards season buzz is beginning to build for Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of Queer, based on the short story by author and Beat Generation member William S. Burroughs. Guagagnino’s second movie this year following hit tennis dramedy Challengers, the film stars Daniel Craig and Outer Banks actor Drew Starkey in an intoxicating gay drama that bears some resemblance to the director’s acclaimed Call Me By Your Name.
Craig stars as William Lee, a stand-in for Burroughs, as he wastes his life away in 1950s Mexico City among the American ex-pats and college students, having one night stands with local men, bar-hopping, and trying to clean out from a heroin addiction. But everything changes with the arrival of Starkey’s Eugene Allerton, a young former soldier who he is driven to pursue.
Also in the cast are Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, Henrique Zaga, and Omar Apollo. The film reunites Guadagnino with Challengers screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes.
Beat Generation adaptations don’t tend to be big money-earners or award winners. Recent years have seen Big Sur, On the Road, and Howl adapted, along with the starry Kill Your Darlings about the writers themselves. All had very big stars attached but didn’t make much noise. To be fair, they didn’t have Daniel Craig or Luca Guadagnino, and the latter has been on a role of late. For fans of Craig, it’s the rare chance to see him away from the Bond and Knives Out franchises.
A24 will open Queer in theaters on November 27th, nationwide on December 6th.
SYNOPSIS: 1950. William Lee, an American expat in Mexico City, spends his days almost entirely alone, except for a few contacts with other members of the small American community. His encounter with Eugene Allerton, an expat former soldier, new to the city, shows him, for the first time, that it might be finally possible to establish an intimate connection with somebody.
