I know it's one of the most generic ways to describe why you didn't like a movie but all I can say about Queer is that I just found it boring. There's still a lot I need to see a lot of Luca Guadagnino's work but everything I like about the films of his I have seen just don't see present at all in Queer.
Similar to Call Me By Your Name it's very light on story and more about characters and their interactions but unlike that film I didn't get much out of the scenes between Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey. Craig is one of my favourite actors and I love seeing him in roles like this but I didn't think the chemistry between these two characters was anything that special. The scenes they share feel insanely repetitive with dialogue that doesn't really give the sense that we're getting to know much about them so not much ever seemed to be going on under the surface. The final 3rd of the film did pick up a bit for me thanks to a wonderfully unhinged performance by Lesley Manville but the film had already lost my interest long before then.
From a visual perspective I also found this movie to be pretty dull which is something I find utterly astounding given the visual feats Guadagnino has pulled off in the past. There's the occasional interesting visual but the directing so often feels like it's just going through the beats and getting the necessary coverage without much real intent. With how repetitive these scenes feel the use of more interesting visuals could've helped distinguish them better. There's also not much of an atmosphere to speak of so I never really felt much of anything as the film plodded along. The whole thing ends up feeling like an assembly cut rather with the amount of scenes and sequences that end up feeling far too elongated. All I can say is that I feel a bit relived that the supposed 3-hour plus cut of this movie never saw the light of day.
I think Queer is a movie that will speak to a lot of people who will get a lot more out of it than I did but for me nothing I've liked about Luca Guadagnino's work carried over to this movie. I have no problems with films that are light on plot but the characters and the tone did nothing for me on top of that. I can see the potential that this text has but the execution just didn't do it justice in my eyes. A film that will be sure to divide people but I can't see myself ever having an interesting conversation about it.
