Luca Guadagnino’s new drama, set in the heat of a 1950s summer in Mexico City, stars Daniel Craig as William Lee. He is a gay American expat, an alcoholic and drug addict, who spends aimless days either on his own or mixing with other Americans. He comes across as lonely and a bit desperate for meaningful human contact. He then encounters Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), a former soldier, who is new to the city, and becomes obsessed with him.
Craig seems to be making a point of choosing characters as far from James Bond as possible, as he takes another step away from the suave, macho, agent here. He is very good in the role, the highlight being a wordless sequence, to the sounds of Leave Me Alone by the peerless New Order. Just after shooting up, Craig manages to show William’s pain by staring into the camera. In fact, the performances are all impressive. As well as Starkey, Jason Schwartzman brings some much needed light relief as Lee’s friend and unrecognisable Lesley Manville is great as a demented doctor.
What none of them can do, though, is ultimately make the film watchable. I am not a fan of Guadagnino and I am still baffled by the critics’ swooning reaction to his Challengers earlier this year. But I do not think that the film’s many shortcomings can be blamed on him. Admittedly, I have not read William S. Burroughs’ book that the film was adapted from, but past experience of his work suggests that he found the miserable lives of junkies like himself a lot more interesting than I did.
Craig did manage to hold my attention whilst he was aimlessly bar-hopping in the city. But when he goes to the Ecuadorian jungle, in the final act, the film becomes a self-indulgent, boring mess.
Rating: 3.5 out of 10