Queer

Luca Guadagnino‘s (Call Me By Your Name, Challengers) adaptation of the William S. Burroughs novella “Queer,”  premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival, and is his most personal film yet — and one that he’s been dreaming of making for many years. The film stars Daniel Craig, Jason Schwartzman, and Drew Starkey.

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) spin on the Beat legend’s autobiographical novel matches its source material in vulnerability and taboo-smashing adventurousness. Starring Daniel Craig (Knives Out) and featuring supporting turns from Jason Schwartzman (Quiz Lady) 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. 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) to accompany him. Their travels will yield a string of unexpected encounters and provide Lee with sobering lessons.

Adapted by Justin Kuritzkes (who wrote Guadagnino’s Challengers), Queer is both faithful to the book and a radical re-imagining. Through it all, Craig makes Lee his own, creating a fully lived-in protagonist whose unruly obsessions lead to something akin to enlightenment.