Queer
Hey everyone, and welcome, today, we will be talking about the film Queer. spoilers ahead! Fun Fact or just fact because it’s not fun, the author of the book Queer William S. Burroughs, shot his wife Joan Vollmer in the head, which mirrored a scene in the movie where Lee shoots Allerman in the head while he’s balancing a glass on his head. This film came out in 2024 and stars Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, and Jason Schwartzman and was directed by Luca Guadagnino. So, without further ado, let’s get right into it.
Queer follows Lee, who Flees to Mexico because of a drug bust and becomes obsessed with a new guy Allerton who is a discharged Navy serviceman.
Quuer is a complicated romance story. It has similar vibes to Call Me By Your Name, Brokeback Mountain, or Beach Rats.
From the movies I’ve seen of his, Luca is a filmmaker who showcases these complicated love stories, which makes me so interested to see how they will play out by the end of the film. This movie is based on a book from 1985, which I didn’t know going into this film, but from reading about the author, it seems like there are similarities between him and Lee. The movie shows us two people trying to find a connection with each other which may seem simple, but they’re Queer, so they have to navigate that since it’s not widely accepted. I feel like sometimes dramas can be a bit dry, but with this film, as with the other films I’ve seen from Luca, I am drawn in and feel so invested in the story and the outcome. I’ve always thought his films were a little scandalous, but this one definitely upped it.
Daniel Craig leads the film as Lee, who is an older Queer man who is in Mexico after fleeing due to stuff with drugs and pretty much drinks his life away, and eventually, we see him doing some drugs too. He seems to only go after Queer men who are less flamboyant or, as some might say, straight passing, and it seems like they are also on the younger end. With all this drinking he was doing, I was under the assumption that he was trying to drown out some trauma from his past. I questioned if he came to terms with his queerness because he’s always drunk, and then when Allerton comes in and eventually starts ignoring him, we see that he starts to do drugs again, which made me wonder if he did the drugs and alcohol to avoid real life. There’s a line where he says, “I’m not Queer, I’m disembodied,” which I interpreted as he is still coming to terms with his sexuality, but also I wondered if it had to do with them clearly having feelings for each other but also feeling like they are on two different planes and there is a disconnect there. He seems to be known for hooking up with a lot of people, and we see how he doesn’t take them home but instead to a hotel with Allerton being the exception. I feel like while we are following him in the beginning, we can see how bad hook-up culture is. It’s a temporary thing for him, and it doesn’t seem to satisfy him, so he just goes back to drinking or doing drugs, which is also temporary but easier to get. He’s very clingy, which is something that scares Allerton away, and when Allerton wants his space, it seems like Lee starts to fall apart. There’s a dream sequence where he sees everyone in prison suits, and I was wondering if he feels like he’s in prison because of his queerness or maybe because of his dependency on drugs and alcohol. There were some cool shots of him when he was hanging with Allerton where there was like a shadow of him touching Allerton, which I thought was a great way to show how even though this wasn’t happening, it was what he wished would be happening. One thing that wasn’t clear to me was his obsession with teleporting; I couldn’t think of why he wanted to do that.
Drew Starkey plays Allerton, who catches the attention of Lee, who is very hard to read. When we first meet him, there is a slow-mo of Lee recognizing him, which I loved because it showed how spotting him slowed things down for Lee, and he realized that he wanted this man. Allerton is Queer, but it seems like he hasn’t come to terms with it and has hesitation with constantly being with Lee. Lee is very affectionate and clingy, which Allerton doesn’t like, but he doesn’t communicate that immediately and instead just tries to avoid Lee, but they eventually agree about how they should handle their relationship. I thought it was interesting to see how he clearly will leave if he doesn’t want to be with Lee or ignore him, but many times throughout the film, we see Lee talking to him, and he just doesn’t seem interested. The last time we see him is after the Ayahuasca trip, and the Dr. says the door is open and asks if he wants to explore more, which to me seemed like it was about his relationship and his sexuality, but he says no, and then we see him in the forest walking fast and leaving Lee. His ending is ambiguous, but for Lee, he is definitely the one that got away.
Jason Schwartzman and Leslie Manville are in this movie, and this is what I would say is unrecognizable because I have seen them in other things and didn’t recognize them at all in this movie. In every scene where I saw Jason I was laughing because he could just easily make the scene funny with whatever remarks he said, or maybe it was him casually stretched out in this restaurant like it was his home. Leslie reminded me of a character from The Hills Have Eyes, but she had something they wanted, and the experience they had with her seemed to be the breaking point in the relationship.
I thought the cinematography was great in this film. We went to a few locations, and the colors and lighting were great to show off these different places we went to. The film has this look and feel like it was filmed in the 80s, with it looking a bit grainy, which I think further immersed me in the time and made me feel like I was transported back in time. There are a lot of static shots in the film, which really let you sit with a character and take in the emotion they are experiencing, and you can examine so much more with these still shots. This film is perfect for those static shots where we can sit and take it all in and not only see how beautiful the film is but also take in all the emotions.
The film often has shots that use miniature replicas, which was a cool contrast to throw in between scenes. They use them for slow zooms into the building and when they are traveling. It’s something I don’t see frequently, but I liked the use of it here.
The posters for this movie are cool, and they don’t show any of the character’s faces but do seem to tie back to some stuff that was important in the movie. There are the legs, which tie to something subtle but seem to have made Lee feel like he was comfortable and safe with Allerton, the centipede, which could symbolize the vulnerability or anxiety that is included with this relationship but also maybe the sense of being overwhelmed by all the change that’s going on which I think can also be seen as fear, then the last poster shows Lee hovering his hand above Allerton which we see in the film and I took that as his admiration for Allerton but also Lee trying to respect his wishes and give him space. I love how, instead of putting people on the posters for the movie just becuase they star in it, they decided to be more mindful of the posters and made them represent something that comes up in the film.
There are some lingering questions I have about this movie, and it didn’t deter from me liking the movie overall, but it just left me with some confusion. There’s some lights at the end of the movie, the ending montage, and the fate of Allerton were some things I was confused about when I left the theatre, and there’s probably an answer hiding in the movie, but I missed it.
I think my favorite part of this film is the music, which is done by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. I feel like they worked so well with Luca and were able to bring in this music that matched the scene perfectly. I feel like they knew when the music needed to be in the background and when the music needed to be front and center and found that perfect balance.
Queer is a love story filled with complications and a rollercoaster of emotions. The leads give some phenomenal performances, and the film is shot beautifully. Overall, the story is interesting, and while there was some confusion, it wasn’t enough to make me not like the movie or feel lost.
