DANIEL CRAIG MISSING IN LUCA GUADAGNINO'S NEW FILM
Presented in competition at the recent Venice Film Festival, Luca Guadagnino's Queer follows in the footsteps of the director's previous films, combining resolutely modern image and sound work with the power of an intimate tale of souls adrift.

Seven years have passed since Luca Guadagnino's hugely successful fifth film, Call Me by Your Name, earned him an international reputation, and the Italian filmmaker has never been busier. Just as we're recovering from the smash Challengers (released in 2024), here he adapts Queer, a little-known, unfinished novel by William S. Burroughs (published in 1985 but written between 1951 and 1953). The story of a middle-aged American who wanders the streets of 1950s Mexico City, from one gay bar to another, recounting his old memories to passing students. One day, he meets young Eugene Allerton (the revelation Drew Starkey), with whom he falls obsessively in love.

You can't change a winning team, and Queer's credits feature all the strong links from Guadagnino's previous films. The music is by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, already responsible for the sublime soundtrack to Challengers. The cinematography is by Thai Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, discovered through his work on Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Palme d'Or-winning Uncle Boonmee (2010), and who has been working with Guadagnino since Call Me by Your Name. As for the screenplay, it's by young author Justin Kuritzkes, who's been very much in the spotlight since his script for Challengers (he's currently working on a film for the DC Universe, as well as on the long-awaited adaptation of the novel City on Fire, starring Austin Butler).

But the big newcomer to the Guadagnino team is Daniel Craig, astonishing in the title role of a life-weary writer. It's been three years since the British actor last donned the James Bond suit. Not since Sean Connery has an actor playing 007 been so versatile. We've seen him as a zealous journalist in David Fincher's Millennium (2011), as a bleached-haired ex-con in Steven Soderbergh's delirious Logan Lucky (2017), and more recently as a French-speaking, whimsical private detective in Rian Johnson's two-part À couteaux tirés (2019 and 2022). For this new composition role, we discover a melancholy, fragile Daniel Craig, with a very inner game. A reminder that, while Guadagnino's films are always remembered for their images and music, he is also an excellent director of actors.

QUEER BY LUCA GUADAGNINO
RELEASED IN THEATRES FEBRUARY 26, 2025