Transporting us to the dives and roach motels of 1950s Mexico City with a palpable sensuousness and eroticism, Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Luca Guadagnino may be the ideal interpreter of Beat legend William S. Burroughs’ novel. Daniel Craig is magnificent as William Lee, a queer American ex-pat and writer in his late 40s (and Burroughs’ autobiographical alter ego). Leading a solitary, seedy life, Lee’s days and (mostly) nights are spent drinking, drugging, and on the prowl for pickups. His hedonistic haze is aided and abetted by his friend Joe—an Allen Ginsburg-ian character played by an almost unrecognizable Jason Schwartzman. But the arrival in town of Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), a handsome bi-curious student from Oklahoma stirs William into an intoxication more romantic, finally establishing a meaningful connection with someone as his hallucinogenic journey becomes steeped in desire.

Director: Luca Guadagnino  (Italy/US 2024) 137 min.