Queer: This film surprised me, I thought it was going to be about William Lee (Daniel Craig) hanging out in 1950s Mexico, drinking, injecting heroin and chasing after younger men. Well it was, but also much more. Touches of Magic Realism combine with dream and hallucination sequences to make this film just as esoteric as Naked Lunch. Naked Lunch was also written by William S. Buttoughs in which he was again represented by the character William Lee. In Queer, Lee has twin obsessions one being Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), who has just finished his military service and is also living in Mexico City, the second being finding yagé, a plant said to offer telepathic abilities to those who consume it. Though engaging in a relationship with Lee, Allerton is diffident towards him but agrees to go on an expedition into the amazon jungle to find the plant. There they meet the bizarre botanist Dr Cotter (Lesley Manville). A love story, a fantasy, a quest for a holy grail, a sort of Road Movie. Much drinking and drugging occurs along with Lee cruising before he hooks up with Allerton. There is a touch of David Lynch to some of the sequences along with what looks like two homages to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Directed by Luca Guadagnino from a screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes, based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs. 8/10.

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