Queer | |
---|---|
Directed by | Luca Guadagnino |
Screenplay by | Justin Kuritzkes |
Based on | Queer by William S. Burroughs |
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Sayombhu Mukdeeprom |
Edited by | Marco Costa |
Music by | |
Production companies | |
Distributed by |
|
Release dates |
|
Running time | 137 minutes [1] |
Countries |
|
Languages |
|
Budget | €48 million [3] |
Box office | $4.8 million [4] [5] |
Queer (titled onscreen as William S. Burroughs' Queer) is a 2024 period romantic drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino from a screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes, based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs. Set in 1950s Mexico City, the film follows an outcast American expatriate (Daniel Craig) who becomes infatuated with a much younger man (Drew Starkey); Jason Schwartzman, Henry Zaga, and Lesley Manville also star.
Queer premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2024, where it played in-competition for the Golden Lion. It was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 27, by A24, and was released nationwide on December 13. The film has received generally positive reviews from critics and was named one of the Top Ten Films of 2024 by the National Board of Review, where Craig was awarded the Best Actor prize. Craig was also nominated for the Golden Globe, the Critics' Choice, and the Screen Actors Guild awards for his performance.
In 1950, William Lee is an American expatriate living in Mexico City, passing time by bar hopping and indulging in sexual activities with younger men. One evening, he catches sight of Eugene Allerton, a young GI who is also an American expatriate. Lee grows obsessed with Allerton, pursuing him across various bars, hoping to gain his affection.
The pair establish a relationship, but Allerton maintains an emotional distance from Lee and is often seen with a woman, despite Lee's obvious desire for connection. Allerton explains this by suggesting he does not see himself as "queer" in the same way as Lee does. Lee invites Allerton to travel with him to South America in the hopes of finding yagé , a plant said to offer telepathic abilities. Allerton seems reluctant but eventually accepts Lee's invitation.
While on the trip, Lee's drug dependency brings on a bout of dysentery. Allerton continues to keep Lee at a distance. Lee hears of a doctor living in Quito who could assist him in his search for yagé.
The two men arrive in the Ecuadorian jungle to meet Dr. Cotter, who warms to the men and creates ayahuasca for them by brewing the yagé found in the forest. Lee and Allerton experience vivid hallucinations from the drug. They vomit out their hearts, communicate telepathically and meld their bodies together. Allerton tells Lee, "I'm not queer. I'm disembodied", which Lee had said in one of his dreams.
The next morning, Dr. Cotter suggests the men stay to further explore the effects of yagé. However, shaken by the experience, Allerton is keen to leave and Lee follows.
Two years later, Lee returns to Mexico City. He is told that Allerton has taken another trip to South America as a guide for an army colonel, and has not been seen since. Later that night, Lee dreams of discovering Allerton in a hotel room adjacent to his. Allerton engages Lee in a round of William Tell by placing a glass on his head. Lee shoots Allerton in the head, then holds his body until it vanishes, before he vanishes himself.
Lee finds himself in his hotel room, now an elderly man. Lying in bed, he envisions a still-youthful Allerton cradling him as he dies.
Guadagnino had wanted to make an adaptation of William S. Burroughs' 1985 novella Queer since he read the book when he was 17. In April 2022, he mentioned the book to screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes while they were on set for their film Challengers (2024) in Boston. [7] Guadagnino bought Kuritzkes a copy, which he read and loved. Producer Lorenzo Mieli found the rights to the book, which they secured after a call with James Grauerholz, the literary executor of Burroughs' estate. Kuritzkes began writing the script while they were still working on Challengers. [7] The book was published unfinished, so Kuritzkes and Guadagnino consulted Burroughs' scholar Oliver Harris on how to give the text a fitting ending, while maintaining the author's vision. [8] Guadagnino described Queer as his most personal film and a tribute to the films of Powell and Pressburger, such as The Red Shoes (1948), saying "I think they would appreciate the sex scenes in Queer, which are numerous and quite scandalous". [9]
It was announced in December 2022 that Daniel Craig was in talks to star in the film. [10] Craig was cast after Guadagnino's agent Bryan Lourd had sent the script to the actor. Guadagnino recalled: "Daniel and I were on the phone a week later. Then, a week passed, and he was in the movie." [8] In April 2023, Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, and Henry Zaga were revealed to be in the cast. [11] Starkey was cast after an audition tape he had made for another project landed in front of Guadagnino. Guadagnino consulted with Craig on casting Starkey, and Craig, after watching the tape, told Guadagnino, "That's the guy." [12] They auditioned three hundred people for the role. [8] In June 2024, it was reported that directors Ariel Schulman, Lisandro Alonso, and David Lowery would be appearing in the film. [9]
Principal photography began in Rome, Italy, on April 29, 2023. [13] [11] The project was filmed at Cinecittà Studios. Additional scenes were shot in Quito, Ecuador for the last act of the film. Production wrapped on June 29, 2023. [14] [15] Jonathan Anderson, creative director of Loewe, served as costume designer, marking his second collaboration with Guadagnino following Challengers. [11] [16]
The original cut submitted to and accepted by the Venice Film Festival was 185 to 200 minutes long before being cut down to its final length of 135 minutes. [17] [18]
Queer (Original Score) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Film score by | ||||
Released | December 6, 2024 | |||
Length | 49:21 | |||
Label | Milan | |||
Producer |
| |||
Trent Reznor chronology | ||||
| ||||
Atticus Ross chronology | ||||
|
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed the score for Queer, their third collaboration with Guadagnino following Bones and All in 2022 and Challengers in 2024. The Spanish-language "Te Maldigo", performed by Omar Apollo, who stars in the film, was the first song released from the soundtrack. [19] The album featuring the original score was released on December 6, 2024, through Milan Records; the first track "Vaster than Empires", performed by Reznor and Brazilian composer Caetano Veloso, contains lyrics from Burroughs' final diary entry. [20] On December 13, "Vaster than Empires" was rereleased featuring Alan Sparhawk and BJ Burton instead of Veloso.
All music is composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross; William S. Burroughs is additionally credited as a writer on "Vaster than Empires".
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Vaster than Empires" (with Caetano Veloso) | 3:52 |
2. | "Pure Love" | 4:34 |
3. | "Centipede" | 1:25 |
4. | "God Had to Create" | 2:53 |
5. | "Thinking Is Not Enough" | 3:00 |
6. | "The Saddest Man in the World" | 1:56 |
7. | "That's Him" | 3:35 |
8. | "Wouldn't You?" | 1:39 |
9. | "Love Would Shatter" | 4:40 |
10. | "Place of Failure" | 4:04 |
11. | "Real Enough" | 1:51 |
12. | "No Holy Grail" | 2:49 |
13. | "No Final Satori" | 3:53 |
14. | "No Final Solution" | 0:58 |
15. | "Just Conflict" | 1:36 |
16. | "Love" | 6:29 |
Notes
Queer had its world premiere in-competition at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2024. [21] [22] In August 2024, the film was the first announced in the Spotlight Gala of the 62nd New York Film Festival. [23]
In September 2024, A24 acquired the film's distribution rights for the United States. [24] In October 2024, Mubi acquired the film rights for multiple regions, including streaming in Italy. [25] The film was banned in Turkey, leading Mubi to cancel a film festival which the film was set to open in November 2024. [26] [27]
The film had a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 27, 2024, [28] before nationwide releases in both the US and the United Kingdom on December 13. [19] It is set to be released theatrically in Italy on February 13, 2025, by Lucky Red. [29]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 77% of 212 critics gave the film a positive review and the average rating was 7.1 out of 10. The critics consensus on the website reads: "A phantasmagorical distillation of William S. Burroughs' preoccupations that's by turns meandering and vital, Queer marks one of Daniel Craig's most sterling performances yet." [30] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 72 out of 100 based on 49 critic reviews, indicating a "generally favorable" response. [31]
Craig was widely praised for his performance, [32] [33] [34] [35] with The Guardian 's Peter Bradshaw describing it as a "really funny, open, generous performance – perhaps the only disadvantage is that he upstages Starkey". [36]
The Times found the film to be visually appealing but lacking in substance. [37]
Director John Waters ranked Queer second on a list of his favorite movies of 2024, writing that Craig "may be queerbait for taking on the gay beatnik role of William Burroughs's alter ego, but I'm all for it." [38] Filmmakers Agnieszka Holland, Edward Berger, Denis Villeneuve, Azazel Jacobs, and Celine Song have also cited it as among their favorite films of 2024. [39] [40] [41] PopMatters included it on their list of "Best of 2024". [42]
Jason Schwartzman is an American actor and musician. Schwartzman made his film debut in Wes Anderson's 1998 film Rushmore, and has since appeared in six other Anderson films: The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), The French Dispatch (2021), and Asteroid City (2023). He also has co-writing credit on The Darjeeling Limited.
Queer is a 1985 novella by American author William S. Burroughs. It is partially a sequel to his 1953 novella Junkie.
Lesley Ann Manville is an English actress. She is known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films Grown-Ups (1980), High Hopes (1988), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010), and Mr. Turner (2014). She has been nominated for two British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Another Year (2010) and Phantom Thread (2017), with her performance in the latter earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Sebastian Stan is a Romanian-American actor. He gained recognition for his role as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe media franchise beginning with the film Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and including the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021).
Oliver C. G. Harris is a British academic and Emeritus Professor of American Literature at Keele University. He is the author and editor of eighteen books, including a dozen editions of works by William S. Burroughs: Letters, 1945–1959 (1993), Junky: the definitive text of Junk (2003), The Yage Letters Redux (2006), Queer (2010), The Cut-Up Trilogy, The Soft Machine, Nova Express, and The Ticket That Exploded (2014), Blade Runner: A Movie (2019), Minutes to Go Redux (2020), The Exterminator Redux (2020), BATTLE INSTRUCTIONS (2020) and Dead Fingers Talk (2020). In 2022, he published two short books of essays, A Burroughs Triptych and Making Naked Lunch and in 2023 a collaborative hybrid of criticism and memoir, Two Assassins: William Burroughs/Hassan Sabbah. He is President of the European Beat Studies Network. He served as a consultant to Luca Guadagnino for his 2024 film Queer, based on the Burroughs novel. In 2024, he published a second hybrid of memoir, scholarship, and detective fiction, One Shot: A Beat Generation Mystery.
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. He gained international fame by playing the fictional secret agent James Bond for five installments in the film series: Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and No Time to Die (2021).
Luca Guadagnino is an Italian film director and producer. His films are characterized by their emotional complexity, eroticism, and lavish visuals. Guadagnino has received numerous accolades, including a Silver Lion, alongside nominations for an Academy Award and three BAFTA Awards.
Andrew Gerhardt Droege is an American actor, comedian, writer, and director best known for his online impressions of Chloë Sevigny.
Joseph Andrew Starkey is an American actor. He began his career with supporting roles in the teen drama films Love, Simon and The Hate U Give. He gained recognition for his portrayal of troubled teenager Rafe Cameron in the Netflix adventure series Outer Banks (2020−present), and has since starred in Luca Guadagnino's romantic drama film Queer (2024).
Bones and All is a 2022 romantic horror film directed by Luca Guadagnino from a screenplay by David Kajganich, based on the 2015 novel Bones & All by Camille DeAngelis. Set in the late 1980s, the film stars Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet as a pair of young cannibals who develop feelings for each other on a road trip across the United States. Michael Stuhlbarg, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, David Gordon Green, Jessica Harper, Jake Horowitz, and Mark Rylance appear in supporting roles.
Justin Kuritzkes is an American playwright, novelist, and screenwriter best known for writing the scripts for two of Luca Guadagnino's films, Challengers and Queer. He has also been the subject of media coverage because of his activities on YouTube, such as the 2011 video "Potion Seller".
Challengers is a 2024 American romantic sports drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes. It follows the love triangle between an injured tennis star-turned-coach (Zendaya), her low-circuit tennis player ex-boyfriend, and her tennis champion husband across 13 years of their relationship, culminating in the match between her ex-boyfriend and husband on the ATP Challenger Tour.
Bones and All (Original Score) is the score album to the 2022 film of the same name, directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet. The film's score was composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and was released on November 18, 2022, on Reznor's label The Null Corporation. It features 23 score tracks, along with the original song, "(You Make Me Feel Like) Home". The score features acoustic music representing the Midwestern United States, and draws inspiration from classical Americana songs, that depicts the relationship between the leading characters, despite the horror setting.
After the Hunt is an upcoming thriller film directed by Luca Guadagnino from a screenplay by Nora Garrett. It stars Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Chloë Sevigny.
The following is a list of unproduced Luca Guadagnino projects in roughly chronological order.
Challengers (Original Score) is the soundtrack album composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for the 2024 film Challengers by Luca Guadagnino. It was digitally released by Milan Records on April 26, 2024, the same day as the film's theatrical release in the United States.
April is a 2024 drama film written and directed by Déa Kulumbegashvili. It stars Ia Sukhitashvili, Kakha Kintsurashvili and Merab Ninidze.
September 5 is a 2024 historical drama thriller film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Tim Fehlbaum. Starring Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, and Leonie Benesch, the film chronicles the Munich massacre of 1972 from the perspective of the ABC Sports crew and their coverage of the events.
Frenesy Film Company S.r.l. an Italian film production company founded by Luca Guadagnino.
There were three versions of the film. The first one was more than three hours long. The second one was two and one half. The final version is two hours and 15 minutes.