TIFF 2024: Queer Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Luca Guadagnino’s Queer marks a striking return to form following this year’s Challengers, transitioning back to a patient, compelling character study that’s cold in emotions but hot to the touch, making it his most daring and personal film to date. His films often reflect the psychology of their protagonists, and this film is no exception. It embraces William S. Burroughs’ surrealism, incorporating dreams, fantasies, and 1940s postcard aesthetics into some of the most beautiful, heartbreaking, and evocative images of Guadagnino’s filmography—some powerful enough to encapsulate an entire career statement.

Sharing many of the same collaborators as Challengers (notably screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes), Queer couldn’t be more different as it adapts Burroughs’ novel of the same name. Loosely based on Burroughs’ life, the film follows William Lee (Craig), a queer man in Mexico City who has escaped a drug bust in New Orleans. He lives a solitary life with few friends. Lee spends his days seeking out young, attractive expatriate Americans and his nights indulging in drugs. His latest focus is Eugene Allerton (Starkey), an attractive blonde expatriate with whom he forms an unstable relationship. While Lee yearns for more, Allerton refuses to declare his sexuality and engages with him only when no women are left at the bar. In a bid to strengthen their bond, Lee plans a journey to South America and invites Eugene to accompany him in search of telepathic ayahuasca.

With Queer, Guadagnino revisits themes from earlier in his career—addiction, isolation, queer identity, unreciprocated relationships, emotional dependency, and people using people—similar to Bones & All and Call Me By Your Name, but with greater explicitness. The dynamic between Lee and Allerton seems clear early on, creating a compelling albeit familiar first half, until a pivotal scene featuring New Order’s “Leave Me Alone” puts the “why?” of it all into focus. The director’s greatest skill lies in making characters seem like open books while concealing secrets even from themselves, with Lee’s true intentions revealed through trippy symbolism. Whether exploring age-gap romance, cannibal romance, or unofficial throuples, it’s exciting to see Guadagnino establish himself in the mainstream as a director who delves into the psychology of complex, provocative characters, using taboo subjects to uncover deep human vulnerabilities and truths.

Craig’s transformative work here once again serves as a reminder of his talent as a character actor. Lee is generally unlikeable; his charms rarely work, and his shot at life has passed. If he weren’t such a convincing loser, he might seem creepy, but no director has used Craig’s puppy-dog sad eyes as effectively as Guadagnino, magnifying them and outfitting him with the dorkiest glasses. Some of Lee’s rare moments of peace are accompanied by the quiet pianos, synths, and drones of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score, appearing when he’s at his most vulnerable—a respite from the constant loneliness and exhaustion of his efforts to connect with others. The duo’s work aligns more closely with their usual style compared to their previous collaborations with Guadagnino, but the compositions and skillful utilization are consistently phenomenal.

Queer is a testament to Guadagnino’s continued evolution as a filmmaker, establishing his place as a master of provocative storytelling by engaging audiences with its mature and authentic portrayal of personal and societal struggles. Not once does the film show Allerton discriminated against for his sexuality, but the director trusts the audience to understand the film’s emotional journey. Guided by a tour-de-force performance from Daniel Craig and carrying over thematic and aesthetic similarities of his previous works, Queer is a rich, challenging character study that continues to diversify the director’s filmography and push his filmmaking skills forward, marking one of his best films yet.

still courtesy of A24

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J.A. Birney

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