Queer is a film soaked in sweat. Sweat from lust, sweat from sex, sweat from drug withdrawal. And of course sweat from heat, as the characters go from sweltering Mexico City to the jungles of Ecuador. Sweat from trying to maintain a grip, but knowing you’re slowly losing control.
Taking place in the 1950s, Queer follows a middle-aged man named Lee (Daniel Craig), an expat American in Mexico City. He’s a man of leisure, with seemingly nothing to do but loiter in gay bars and flirt with young men, hoping for some mutual gratification. He carries a pistol tucked into the back of his belt, and is savvy enough to know that he should offer some pesos after-the-fact to the young men that he takes to bed.
But one day he sees Eugene (Drew Starkey), a lithe, beautiful 20-something man, and is immediately smitten. Lee’s overtures are initially met with humiliating smirks, but he slowly wins Eugene’s attention—first as a casual friend that he can ply with drinks, then eventually a friend with occasional benefits. But Eugene is a cipher. Is he even queer, or just a tease? Why’s he hanging out in gay bars? Is he just humoring Lee, even after their passionate encounters?
The first 2/3rds of the film work the best, even if the narrative is sometimes as messy as William S. Burroughs’ autobiographical source. Director Luca Guadagnino’s stylish storytelling keeps the film interesting, even if it seems to ramble like a novel without a direct storyline. I liked the surprising choices of music accompanying scenes (like Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” and Prince’s “Musicology” accompanying Lee on his wanderings through the nighttime street life of Mexico City, to New Order’s “Leave Me Alone” playing almost in its entirety as Lee shoots heroin, alone in his room). There are also beautiful, wild images, like an apparition of Lee’s hand stroking the side of Eugene’s face as he listens/not listens to him, absolutely rapt with infatuation… or the two men melding under each other’s skin in their intimacy.
But the last portion of the film sort of derails a bit. Not that it is bad… it just feels like a writer not knowing how to end a book. The two men go to Ecuador on Lee’s dime, in a desperate attempt on Lee’s part to keep the young man’s attention. They end up deep in the jungle taking hallucinatory drugs with an absolutely unrecognizable Lesley Manville as a whackadoodle white-lady scientist falling far, far off the grid. As amusing as this chunk of the film is, it takes a while to tell you where it’s going… then it keeps going (there’s not one, but two epilogues).
Though the story wanders around like a friend not able to focus on a conversation, Queer is most certainly always beautiful. The cinematography and setting is gorgeous, the acting by both Craig and Starkey is always engaging (and watch out for Jason Schwartzman’s hilarious turn as one of the bar’s regulars), and man oh man, these men look great in linen suits and 50’s fashion. Though the film sometimes feels as messy as the relationship between Lee and Eugene, I found myself thinking about it long after.
