42/20
In Mexico in the 1950s, an American immigrant in his forties lives a lonely life in the middle of a small American community. But the arrival of a young college student finally causes him to form a meaningful bond with someone. It was Daniel Craig who finally convinced Luca Guadagnino to play Drew Starkey after watching Guadagnino’s audition tapes and told him, “This”; this is the guy” after seeing Starkey… William Lee: Move Your Ass! Or What’s Left of It After Four Years in the Navy… On The Graham Norton Show: Daniel Craig/Nicola Coughlan/Jesse Eisenberg/Kieran Culkin/Flo (2024). I’ve never seen Naked Lunch (1991), but I often thought about it during the screening of Queer at the 2024 London Film Festival: perhaps to be expected, since both films were sourced by William S. Burroughs. In 1950s Mexico, William Lee, an American writer on the wrong side of… forty? Fifty? He spends his days getting drunk, making out, and occasionally having sex with other men. One day, a muscular and quick-witted young Eugene walks into a bar, and Lee is smitten. But what does Eugene want? You have to think of a telepathic drug for that… I’m not sure what director Luca Guadagnino is trying to achieve stylistically with this film. The panels are decorated almost exclusively in block colors—like dull reds and olive greens—and have this slightly unrealistic, clean Technicolor look that convinced me that the intention was to pay homage to the films of the era in which the film is set. But if that’s the case, why is the soundtrack decidedly 50s rock and techno? Daniel Craig (is it just my imagination, or is he starting to resemble Sid James?) is stuck in the lead role, constantly giving stupid speeches. with an accent that is clearly not his. Drew Starkey is more subtle in his role as the manipulative Eugene and certainly shows a preppy side. Lesley Manville is unrecognizable as a doctor living in the South American jungle – kudos to the make-up team! It seems to me that this is the kind of film that focuses more on the artistic style than the substance of the story. I watched it once, it was ok, but I won’t watch it again.
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