---
title: "Queer"
year: 2024
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/queer"
fi1m_id: "queer"
imdb_id: "tt24176060"
tmdb_id: 1059128
wikidata_id: "Q116771681"
fi1m_score: 68
critics_score: 72
critics_reviews: 19
published: "2026-09-09"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:56.703544+00:00"
region: "EE"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Queer (2024)

Directed by Luca Guadagnino · 2h 18m · Drama, Romance

## Identity

Queer

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/queer
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** queer
- **IMDb ID:** tt24176060
- **TMDB ID:** 1059128
- **Wikidata ID:** Q116771681
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt24176060/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1059128, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q116771681

**Fi1m score: 68** · Critics 72 from 19 reviews

*In a sentence:* Daniel Craig pines magnificently for ninety minutes and the film then wanders off without him

> Daniel Craig does the best work of his career as a drunk who wants a young man who will not quite want him back. For ninety minutes Guadagnino’s Burroughs adaptation is sharp and sad; then it takes a turn and loses its way.

## Synopsis

Mexico City, the early 1950s. William Lee (Daniel Craig), an American who drinks in the expat bars, buys heroin when he can find it and watches young men, sees one he cannot stop watching. Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), recently out of the service, lets Lee buy him a drink without letting on whether he is interested, and Lee sets about pursuing him with the help of gossip from his friend Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and no help at all from his own pride. Luca Guadagnino directs from Justin Kuritzkes’s screenplay of the short novel by Guadagnino’s Burroughs. Lesley Manville appears later as Doctor Cotter. It runs 138 minutes and carries an 18 certificate.

## Review

Luca Guadagnino has filmed the short novel Guadagnino’s Burroughs wrote in the early 1950s: an American called Lee drinks his way round Mexico City, shoots heroin when he can get it, and falls hard for a younger man who is not sure what he wants. Daniel Craig plays Lee and Drew Starkey plays the young man, Eugene Allerton. The result is two films. The first is a sharp, sad, funny picture of a middle-aged man making a fool of himself for love. The second leaves the city and comes back with less than it went for.

Craig is the reason to go. He gives Lee a cream suit, a hat, glasses and a walk that is half swagger and half stagger, and he makes the man ridiculous and impossible to look away from. He talks too much in bars, keeps telling a story after the listener has gone, and pleads with his eyes while his mouth is still being witty. There is no vanity in it. He is sweaty, needy, sometimes cruel and often funny, and when Allerton agrees to a second drink his face does something we have not seen it do before.

Starkey has the harder job, which is to be wanted and to give almost nothing back. He plays Allerton as a boy who accepts the drink, accepts the dinner, accepts more than that, and then looks at the door. Whether he feels anything is the question the film keeps asking, and Starkey is careful never to answer it. Jason Schwartzman, dishevelled and gossipy as Joe Guidry, supplies most of the laughs.

Guadagnino has built Mexico City on studio stages and does not pretend otherwise. Stefano Baisi’s streets end at a painted sky, the bars glow like lamps and the whole town looks remembered rather than photographed. Sayombhu Mukdeeprom shoots it in warm ambers by day and deep blues at night, so that Lee’s pale suit is always the brightest thing in the frame. Jonathan Anderson keeps Lee in that suit and Allerton in plain white shirts, so the eye goes where Lee’s goes. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross supply a low, aching score, and Guadagnino lays songs recorded decades after the period over the pictures, which jars for a minute and then makes sense: this is a man’s memory of 1950, not 1950.

The film has one image it returns to and it is the one we took home. Lee sits beside Allerton in a cinema, and while his real hand stays in his lap a second, translucent hand reaches out and touches the boy’s face. It is a simple effect and it moved us more than we thought possible, because it shows exactly what it is to want somebody without permission. Lee says early on that he is not queer, he is disembodied, and the hand is that line made visible.

The second half takes a turn we will not describe. Lesley Manville arrives in it, good and odd for the twenty minutes she has. What we can say is that it runs far too long, that Guadagnino reaches for effects where Craig’s face had been doing the work, and that after the third such image we had understood the point and were waiting for the fourth. We were bored, then annoyed. Marco Costa’s editing, quick and elliptical in the city, goes slack here, and the epilogue is longer than it needs to be.

Justin Kuritzkes also wrote [*Challengers*](https://film.one/film/challengers) (2024), and the two films are about the same thing: wanting somebody who enjoys being wanted. There it was played fast, as a game. Here it is played slow, as an illness, and the first hour shows the slow version works. David Cronenberg’s [*Naked Lunch*](https://film.one/film/naked-lunch) (1991) made Burroughs’s world filthier and stranger than this; Guadagnino makes it prettier and sadder, and anyone hoping for grime will find the sets have been swept.

It runs 138 minutes and carries an 18, deserved: the sex is explicit and the needles go in on camera. See it for Craig, who is doing the best work of his career, and for the first ninety minutes, which are a proper film about loneliness. After that, feel free to make a cup of tea; the film will still be away when you get back.

*Fi1m score 68, published 9 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics agree on one thing: Daniel Craig. Almost every review, positive or not, singles out his performance as William Lee, calling it committed, vulnerable and free of vanity, and several rate it among his best. Praise also gathers around the first half, the chemistry with Drew Starkey and the studio-built recreation of 1950s Mexico City.

The reservations are just as consistent: the extended jungle and ayahuasca stretch is called repetitive and dragging, the final act wayward, and the epilogue unsatisfying. The spread is wide. Fifteen of nineteen reviews are positive, but the dissent is sharp rather than mild. The Guardian finds the manicured production design at odds with Burroughs’s grime, the Times calls the film dramatically inert despite its looks, and the Evening Standard says it needs to be dirtier and slides into pretentiousness. Vulture’s complaint is different: the film is emotionally sealed off, its style more engaging than its story.

## Straight answers

**Is Queer worth watching?**

*Queer* is worth watching for Daniel Craig, who gives the best performance of his career as a drunk pining for a young man in 1950s Mexico City, and we scored it 68. The first ninety minutes are a sharp, sad, funny film about loneliness; the second half takes a turn, runs far too long and loses its way.

**How long is Queer, and what is it rated?**

*Queer* runs 2h 18m. It is a drama and romance film.

**Where can I watch Queer in Estonia?**

*Queer* is not on any streaming or rental service in Estonia at the moment. It is available in 30 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Queer, and is it suitable for children?**

*Queer* carries an 18 certificate in the UK and is not suitable for children or younger teenagers. The sex is explicit and heroin needles go in on camera, though the film is a drama about longing rather than a violent or frightening one. It is for adults comfortable with candid sex and drug use on screen.

**How does Queer compare to Naked Lunch?**

*Queer* and [*Naked Lunch*](https://film.one/film/naked-lunch) are both drawn from William S. Burroughs, but Guadagnino's film is prettier and sadder where Cronenberg's is filthier, stranger and funnier. Anyone hoping for grime should choose *Naked Lunch*; anyone who wants a straight love story with a remarkable central performance should choose *Queer*. Both wander badly in their second halves.

**Is Queer based on a true story or a book?**

*Queer* is based on a short novel by William S. Burroughs, written in the early 1950s, and is not presented as a true story. Guadagnino keeps the setting of expat bars in Mexico City and the pursuit of a younger man, though the second half departs into territory the book's readers may find changed. Knowing the novel is not required.

**What should I watch after Queer?**

After *Queer*, try [*Naked Lunch*](https://film.one/film/naked-lunch) (1991, Fi1m 78): Cronenberg’s Burroughs is filthier, stranger and funnier, with typewriters that talk back. Then [*Happy Together*](https://film.one/film/happy-together) (1997, Fi1m 86): Two men, a foreign city and a love that will not hold; Wong Kar-wai at his rawest; and [*Challengers*](https://film.one/film/challengers) (2024, Fi1m 80): Same director, same writer, same wanting, played fast and with a tennis racket.

### Reviews we read (28)

- **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (Critics Pick): The critic highlights Daniel Craig's bold, funny, and vulnerable performance as the younger Burroughs figure, infusing the character with wit and romantic longing. It singles out the luscious first half as a barbed comedy of liberation and the film's daring, if uneven, psychedelic turn. [Read](https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/queer-review-daniel-craig-luca-guadagnino-1236127541/)
- **Film Comment**, José Teodoro (80/100, inferred): The critic praises Guadagnino’s adaptation for its tender exploration of longing and connection, highlighting Daniel Craig’s revelatory performance as the vulnerable, eccentric Bill Lee amid counterintuitive casting choices. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/love-and-death-tiff-2024/)
- **Little White Lies**, Hannah Strong (4/4/4): The review is highly positive, calling the film dreamy, dark and delicious with Craig at his best and Starkey a remarkable foil. Chemistry between the leads and flashes of aching loneliness are praised, though the repetitive ayahuasca trip section is noted as a weaker point. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/queer)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh (80/100, inferred): The critic lauds Daniel Craig's fantastic, body-and-soul-baring performance as the lonely expat and notes the film's messy yet poignant exploration of yearning and erotic desire. It singles out the achingly memorable images and the embarrassment of an all-consuming crush. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-11-27/queer-review-daniel-craig-luca-guadagnino-william-burroughs-a24)
- **Financial Times**, Raphael Abraham (75/100, inferred): The trippy adaptation allows Daniel Craig to deliver his best-ever performance as a sweaty, predatory expat; the film mixes seedy and suave elements effectively but becomes wayward in its final act. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/f22811ee-ac42-4a2e-91c6-696864425cc5)
- **The i Paper**, Christina Newland (75/100, inferred): A rewarding film about the vast beauty and sadness a fleeting love affair can provide, even if messier than Challengers. Craig is fantastic as the love-starved hero in this heady, explicit adaptation. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/daniel-craig-rejects-bond-machismo-once-again-queer-3422318)
- **Empire**, John Nugent (70/100, inferred): A feverish, quietly sad exploration of longing and infatuation that may not be Guadagnino's best film but is arguably the most him. Daniel Craig delivers a phenomenal, vulnerable performance as William Lee. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/queer/)
- **Radio Times**, James Mottram (3/5): Craig is fully committed with fine support from the cast, and the film is technically well-crafted in evoking 1950s Latin America. The meandering narrative, overly long trip sequence and unsatisfying epilogue are criticized for failing to hold attention. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/queer-review-daniel-craig/)
- **Time Out**, Sophie Monks Kaufman (3/5): Craig gives a phenomenal, full-bodied performance as the seedy lead, and the film has steamy moments worth the trip. The critic singles out Guadagnino's overly aesthetic and coy approach to desire, plus the unconvincing and dragging jungle sequence, as drawbacks. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/queer-review-2024)
- **The Guardian**, Wendy Ide (55/100, inferred): The critic praises Daniel Craig’s committed, vanity-free performance as William Lee but criticizes the film’s overly artificial, manicured production design that undermines the gritty realism of Burroughs’s world, along with an overlong and baggy second half. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/dec/15/queer-review-daniel-craig-luca-guadagnino-artificial-looking-william-s-burroughs-adaptation)
- **Evening Standard**, Jo-Ann Titmarsh (30/100, inferred): Despite Daniel Craig’s superb performance, the film fails to soar and needs to be dirtier. The highly choreographed sequences bore and drag it into pretentiousness, though there are some great moments and performances. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/queer-venice-film-festival-review-review-daniel-craig-luca-guadagnino-b1179853.html)
- **Screen Daily**: The review highlights the oddness of the adaptation and strong push-and-pull performances from Craig and Starkey in the central relationship. The studio backlots are praised for enhancing the 1950s atmosphere, while noting the film delivers provocation without the haunting power of other Burroughs adaptations. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/queer-venice-review/5196707.article)
- **Sight and Sound**: The critic praises Guadagnino's poetic reinvention of Burroughs' story as a tragic fantasy about unreciprocated gay love and loneliness, transformed from its grimy source material. Daniel Craig delivers a brilliant, needy performance as the lead, with striking visual interpretations of desire singled out for praise. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/queer-luca-guadagnino-finds-romance-william-s-burroughs-story-obsession-squalor)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney: Guadagnino meets Burroughs on his own slippery terms in a mesmerizing adaptation that drifts hypnotically between realism and hallucination. Daniel Craig delivers a transfixing performance as the magnetic yet vulnerable William Lee, fueled by sensuality, loneliness and unrequited desire. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/queer-review-daniel-craig-luca-guadagninos-1235986089/)
- **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (Critic’s Pick): The critic praises Daniel Craig's seductive and damaged performance as the dissolute American expat in this handsome adaptation. It highlights the film's focus on desire and the protagonist's feverish, predatory presence. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/27/movies/queer-review-daniel-craig-luca-guadagnino.html)
- **The Times**, Kevin Maher (★★☆☆☆): Daniel Craig delivers a dazzling performance as the gay hedonist, but the film is ultimately boring, empty, ill-disciplined and dramatically inert despite its visual appeal. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/queer-review-daniel-craig-movie-fzcmznmb3)
- **Vulture**: The film is emotionally sealed off despite its erotic heat, with stylistic choices more engaging than the central story. Guadagnino's personal connection to the material is appreciated, but the gap between the outline and the filmmaker's ambitions leaves viewers on the outside. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-luca-guadagninos-queer-is-a-challenging-movie.html)
- **/Film**, Jeremy Mathai (8.5/10): Daniel Craig gives a sensational, transformative performance as the lead in this must-see odyssey that mixes lust, love, and self-loathing. The film features explicit scenes that live up to the hype and builds to a discomfiting, interpretive ending. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1682033/queer-review-daniel-craig-luca-guadagnino-movie/)
- **Consequence** (B+): The critic praises Craig's dynamic, versatile performance and Guadagnino's ability to capture place and atmosphere, while noting the film rambles at times with a narrative that lacks a stronger spine. [Read](https://consequence.net/2025/03/queer-review-luca-guadagnino-daniel-craig/)
- **NME**, Matthew Turner (4/5): The critic calls it a sweaty, sexy, and horny adaptation where Craig delivers one of his best performances, with strong chemistry and memorable supporting turns that make the film both touching and weird. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/queer-review-daniel-craig-james-bond-3790461)
- **The Skinny**, Jamie Dunn (4/5): The review hails it as a trippy and compassionate adaptation with Craig brilliant as the rakish, vulnerable Lee, praising the stylized study of unrequited desire while noting a slight falter in the surreal final stretch. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/queer-luca-guadagnino)
- **The Playlist**, Marshall Shaffer (B): The review finds the film fascinating but unsettled and inconsistent, with strong visual flair and standout performances from Craig and Starkey that capture elusive intimacy and desire. Narrative lulls and a somewhat flimsy structure prevent it from fully cohering despite its sensory strengths. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/queer-review-luca-guadagninos-burroughs-adaptation-with-daniel-craig-is-fascinating-but-unsettled-venice-20240903/)
- **Digital Spy**, David Opie (75/100, inferred): The review emphasizes that Queer is about far more than its graphic sex scenes, celebrating its exploration of connection, longing, and loss through a moving central performance and emotional depth. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a63159554/queer-daniel-craig-sex/)
- **The Wrap** (75/100, inferred): The critic praises the transportive recreation of mid-century Mexico City and Craig's performance of longing and unmet desire, with the film finding ecstasy in the wait rather than the act. The extended coda and third chapter feel frustrating after a strong build. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/queer-daniel-craig-review/)
- **Collider**, Ross Bonaime (7/10): The critic calls it an audacious adaptation that fits Guadagnino's oeuvre, praising Craig's captivating performance and the film's vibe and themes of addictive love while noting the final third feels somewhat disconnected. [Read](https://collider.com/queer-movie-review-daniel-craig/)
- **Deadline**, Damon Wise: The critic calls the film a superb literary adaptation in which Daniel Craig nails Burroughs' sardonic spirit. Guadagnino humanizes the writer through an insightful focus on love, loss, yearning and the final journal entry equating love with the most natural painkiller. [Read](https://deadline.com/2024/09/queer-review-luca-guadagnino-daniel-craig-venice-film-festival-1236076219/)
- **Film Stories**, James Harvey: The critic describes it as a slightly depressing romance that's hard to watch at times, centering on obsession and the ugliness beneath desire in a bleak Mexico City setting. Craig delivers a brilliantly contradictory lead performance, but the film feels frustratingly plot-lite and bleak overall. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/queer-review-a-tequila-soaked-tale-of-obsession/)
- **Paste**, Luke Hicks (5.0): The critic finds the adaptation heavy-handed, overbaked, and sluggish, falling short of Burroughs' novella with too much length and messy metatext, though some early stylistic flourishes and performances stand out. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/luca-guadagnino/queer-2024-review-luca-guadagnino-adaptation-burroughs-problems)

## Details

- **Director:** Luca Guadagnino
- **Director:** Luca Guadagnino
- **Screenplay:** Justin Kuritzkes
- **Novel:** William S. Burroughs
- **Cinematography:** Sayombhu Mukdeeprom
- **Editor:** Marco Costa
- **Music:** Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
- **Production design:** Stefano Baisi
- **Costume design:** Jonathan Anderson
- **Producer:** Luca Guadagnino, Lorenzo Mieli
- **Cast:** Daniel Craig as William Lee; Drew Starkey as Eugene Allerton; Jason Schwartzman as Joe Guidry; Lesley Manville as Doctor Cotter; Henry Zaga as Winston Moor; Drew Droege as John Dumé; Andra Ursuta as Mary; Lisandro Alonso as Mr. Cotter
- **Runtime:** 2h 18m
- **Release (Estonia):** 27 September 2025
- **Genres:** Drama, Romance
- **Budget:** $53 million
- **Box office:** $5 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZtwsbxryMk

## Where to watch in Estonia

Not streaming, renting or buying in Estonia at the last check.

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, ES, FI, FR, GB, HU, IE, IN, IT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, RO, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Naked Lunch* (1991), Fi1m 78: Cronenberg’s Burroughs is filthier, stranger and funnier, with typewriters that talk back — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/naked-lunch.md)
- *Under the Volcano* (1984): Albert Finney drinks himself to the bottom of Mexico; Huston watches without flinching
- *Happy Together* (1997), Fi1m 86: Two men, a foreign city and a love that will not hold; Wong Kar-wai at his rawest — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/happy-together.md)
- *Death in Venice* (1971): Visconti’s older man watching a younger one, in a city as artificial and beautiful as this
- *Challengers* (2024), Fi1m 80: Same director, same writer, same wanting, played fast and with a tennis racket — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/challengers.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/queer