While the cinematography of this film is beautiful, it falls flat in its story telling. The movie expects you to understand itself be it either relating to its characters and/or reading the book beforehand. If you haven’t done either then this movie will be weird, confusing, and long!

Mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, this is the best work I've seen from Daniel Craig - he's beyond fantastic in this. There are also lots of strong visuals, especially towards the end of the film. On the other hand, I definitely felt this dragged. I haven't read the book, but I am familiar with some of Burroughs' other work, and I do appreciate that his style of writing is not exactly the easiest to translate on screen. This film has very little in terms of a plot. As great as I found Daniel Craig to be, the co-lead didn't really do it for me. He was fine, but I felt he was constantly overshadowed by how brilliant Craig was in every scene. Will need to reflect on this some more, but as of now, I can't say I'm in a rush to watch it again.

My expectations betrayed me with this film, not because of the quality but because of the type of story. Far from being a queer romance in 20th century Mexico, it is a personal quest that gets lost in the metaphor as the plot progresses. I understand that the protagonist is looking for an emotional partner in an environment where homosexual relationships are physical and casual, nothing more, so he seeks the ability to read men's minds to get out of doubt. Although he is shown stagnant, with addiction and alcoholism problems, I missed knowing more about the character: what is his past?, what has made him get to the point of betting everything on the first man who plays along? where does the insecurity that leads him to buy Eugene with trips come from?, why does he settle for indifference? As for Eugene's character, he owes me a lot of information, I don't understand him, he says yes to everything, he neither takes a position nor stops doing it, we don't know where he comes from, but even less how he ends up, what does he want. Daniel Craig nails this character, something that is completely out of his profile, and the film has good photography and setting; even so, I had to make many assumptions to try to understand the end, and even so I have not succeeded.

Right from the start, the movie seems lost, trying to find a direction, but ends up getting even more lost. It veers off in several directions, without hitting any of them. The script is weak, with simple and repetitive dialogues, while the editing makes the pace uneven, with several random scenes that add nothing to the narrative. In addition, the film is excessively restrained, even the scenes that should be bolder lack impact and seem bland. Although some surreal elements are present and the make-up and effects are well done, they are poorly fitted into the plot. At times, they are so clumsy that they border on embarrassing.

One of the many things that director Luca Guadagnino accomplishes so perfectly in his movies and projects is that feeling of longing, desire and passion all together mixed with escapist visuals, beautiful imagery, gorgeous sets and locations with stories that are polarizing but necessary to experience. While Challengers explores the steamy dynamic of power and desire between the triangle of characters, Queer explores a desperate desire for connection, for synchronization between two men that are looking for different things. Expanding the work by author William S. Burroughs, the film is presented in three chapters and a powerful epilogue, but the film itself could be divided into two acts that work in their own way as two different stories with the same characters: first, an unrequited love story and second, a psychological trip induced by drugs to explore the concepts of human connection and telepathy. The sad yet beautiful dynamic and chemistry between Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey is a refreshing combination and the melancholic tone of Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross’ powerful score create a passionate, engaging and honestly, bit depressing story that mirrors the authors own life in a way that only Guadagnino knows how to honor.