Film: Queer

Now in Ireland for Christmas and yay, there was a film on I could see! Queer, with Daniel Craig, also featuring Jason Schwartzman, and directed by Luca Guadagnino, is showing in the Omniplex - I booked to see it today. Based on the novella by William S. Burroughs, it looked really interesting. They're tipping Daniel Craig for the Oscar for it. And I could do some required shopping.

Wow. Limerick with light traffic. Of course, it was a work day - just because I'm off doesn't mean everyone is! and the schools aren't off yet, as I could see passing my old primary school, where they were obviously out for their lunch break. So gee, I arrived at the cinema 15 minutes early! I was a little worried about the traffic into the shopping centre it's located in, but it didn't take long at all to get parked - what a welcome change from coming here at a weekend. I had time to grab some chocolate, and still made the film before the ads. The audience apart from myself consisted of one woman and two men, all of whom had come on their own.

Wooh, I adored this. Caveat, I tend to have unusual taste. It's set primarily in Mexico City in the 1950s, where Daniel Craig plays a middle-aged, intelligent man of independent means, bar-hopping and indulging in two hobbies that were illegal in his native United States at the time - heroin, and homosexuality. As he cruises the bars and backstreets, he suddenly comes across a handsome, innocent-looking young man who completely dumbfounds him - losing his customary self-confidence, he becomes awkward and ridiculous. The rest of the film is essentially about his pursuit of this ingenue, and the relationship between them.

So, Daniel Craig's character is indeed based on Burroughs himself - the dialogue crackles, and for someone who claimed not to have been gay himself, he sure did a fantastic job of making us feel the hopeless passion of his character for the younger man. His botched attempts at seduction are cringeworthy, and when he seems to make progress, it's compelling. Daniel Craig's performance is indeed stunning. Jason Schwartzman, fatter than I remember him, provides welcome comic relief from all the intensity, and the young guy proves suitably enigmatic, as Daniel Craig tries to fathom him out. And it looks beautiful, Mexico City looking like a painting, beautiful sunsets, classic settings. Hell, I'd like to barhop there.

I read a recent review that criticised the modern music used - nah, I thought it fitted quite well. The same review also criticised the fact that the reviewer thought the film didn't go anywhere - I disagree, it did chart the relationship between these two guys quite completely. And along the way, it completely bewitched me. Highly recommended. Caveat again though - that woman in the audience walked out after the sex scene; the intimate scenes in this are beautifully done, but as explicit as they can be without rendering the film an 18. That review described this film as a "fever dream", and particularly towards the end, that is exactly what it is. But I felt it hung together perfectly.

Oh, and I got some very essential shopping done afterwards. 

I'll keep an eye out - I anticipate more decent films coming my way before I go back to London - here's hoping!

I'll be returning to London on the 5th. Have a very merry one!