Luca Guadanigno has already left his mark on this year in film, with his last effort Challengers remaining one of the best of 2024 so far. It isn't often you see a director put out two movies in one year but Luca seems to be constantly busy, so now we get another with what on the surface seemed like a surefire Oscar contender.
Queer follows William Lee (Daniel Craig), a gay man living in 1950s Mexico City. He lives amidst a community of Americans but feels emotionally detached from the others, that is until a young man Eugene (Drew Starkey) shows up, leaving Lee yearning for an intimate connection with him. Eugene's cagey persona leaves it constantly unclear where his feelings lie, sending the two on a voyage of emotional discovery.
Guadanigno is an interesting filmmaker largely due to how vastly different his work is. He broke through with the period romance Call me by Your Name, then immediately made the brutally bloody horror remake of Suspiria. That was followed by the cannibal horror/romance/road trip movie Bones & All, only to once again completely shift gears for Challengers. This is yet another film that is wildly different from the rest of his filmography. People may assume based on the gay romance element that it would be a lot like Call me by Your Name, but this is much stranger in how it operates narratively. The film is split up into three acts, the first essentially introducing us to Lee and Eugene, the second shows them leaving Mexico to travel South America, and the third involves them finding a scientist in the rainforest who has a drug rumoured to grant telepathy.
The first two acts are perfectly fine. I was a bit disappointed as nothing really hooks you, but Craig and Starkey are terrific on screen together. This is among the best performances of Craig's career. It's a role that forces him to hold a lot back, and sometimes not getting to know him well enough feels a bit distancing, but his performance is nuanced enough to hold you even with that distance. Starkey is also really great, his character is also incredibly hard to read but that really works with the character and makes him fascinating to watch. Those two are the only big players here, but I will say Jason Schwartzman has a hilarious supporting role that truly shocked me.
Those first two acts are pretty normal, you just sort of vibe along with Lee trying to figure Eugene out, but the third act takes a massive shift. We ditch reality amidst a flurry of drug induced hallucinations that will no doubt lose most viewers, but they were kind of my favourite part. I spent a good deal of time not really knowing what was happening but completely transfixed on the strange visuals Guadanigno was putting on screen. A flurry of bizarre images and sounds made for something I couldn't take my eyes off of which was a nice treat after being a bit underwhelmed for most of the runtime. It's a wild shift that probably won't work for most people. and I truly can't judge anyone that hates that, but it worked for me.
From the production side it's a very well crafted film. The cinematography is good, as are the sets and costumes. There are some great needle drops throughout, and the score is good although I would hesitate to call it Reznor and Ross' best as some are. On the whole I was disappointed just due to how much I love Luca as a filmmaker, but I still think that was a more than worthwhile watch. 3.5/5
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