It’s a bit too early to be making declarations like “Luca Guadagnino’s Queer is the best movie that we’ve seen all year,” but unless Gladiator II brings the heat or The Brutalist is as good as everyone says (fat chance), it’s likely to hold. Guadagnino’s had a hell of a year — he put out Challengers back in April, which is up there in the top ten with this — and Queer is even better.
Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by William S. Burroughs, the junkie patron saint of all your favorite dead rock stars, and played here by an absurdly-brilliant Daniel Craig, it’s Guadagnino at his best, and A24 dropped the film’s trailer earlier on Tuesday to get you pumped for its release next month. Peep it:
You could always go and read our (rave) review from TIFF, but here’s a synopsis from the festival program to tide you over until you do:
“Brilliant, audacious author, meet brilliant, audacious director: it takes risk to translate the work of William S. Burroughs for the screen, but Oscar-nominated filmmaker Luca Guadagnino’s (‘Call Me by Your Name, TIFF ’17) spin on the Beat legend’s autobiographical novel matches its source material in vulnerability and taboo-smashing adventurousness. Starring Daniel Craig (‘Knives Out,’ TIFF ’19) and featuring supporting turns from Jason Schwartzman (‘Quiz Lady,’ TIFF ’23) and Oscar nominee Lesley Manville (‘Phantom Thread’), ‘Queer’ is a hallucinogenic odyssey bathed in desire.
Lee (Craig) mingles with the expatriate set in postwar Mexico City, wandering its streets, frequenting its gay bars, and ingesting whatever illicit substances are available. He is a consummate raconteur who has no trouble finding an audience, but he is also a desperately lonely, middle-aged addict with an alarming fondness for guns. Early in ‘Queer,’ Lee sets his sights on a journey to the Amazon in search of the potentially telepathic ayahuasca — and he wants handsome young bi-curious Oklahoman Allerton (Drew Starkey, ‘The Hate U Give,’ TIFF ’18) to accompany him. Their travels will yield a string of unexpected encounters and provide Lee with sobering lessons in what Burroughs dubbed “the algebra of need.”
Adapted by Justin Kuritzkes (who wrote Guadagnino’s ‘Challengers’), Queer is both faithful to the book and a radical re-imagining. Period detail is offset by anachronistic musical choices, while an eerie epilogue alludes to the real-life tragedy that prompted Burroughs’ writing career. Through it all, Craig makes Lee his own, creating a fully lived-in protagonist whose unruly obsessions lead to something akin to enlightenment.“
Queer hits select theaters on November 27.