*Spoilers ahead*
I cannot personally think of a better way to launch this column into the summer season than mentioning everyone’s favorite director of the moment: Luca Guadagnino. Whether it’s a steamy, homoerotic, sports-drama or a dazzling, gay, coming-of-age set in 1980s Northern Italy, Guadagnino has a mastery of capturing that warm weather and sun-soaked vibe. One of my favorite summer memories is the morning I spent with my best friend watching Call Me by Your Name, windows open, and summer breezes flowing in. It was not only a perfect viewing experience but also just a great time. All this to say that I really love Luca Guadagnino and his films, so don’t come for me if you don’t love my take. I just can’t seem to not include him in every installment of this column, but today, I just have some thoughts about his work within the context of our current film landscape.
As I elaborated on very thoroughly in my article “The Gay Straight Boyfriend”: currently in film and television, gay men are getting tons of visibility, but a disproportionate amount of actual representation. There is a tireless flow of media being released depicting gay stories, but the actors cast tend to be straight men.
The most glaring example of this phenomena is Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer”. All arguments aside, I loved this movie. I saw it at Trustee’s Theater (for free because I am a SCAD student – something you all should be tapping into) and it gave me pretty much everything I could ask for in a film: great soundtrack, drool-worthy costumes, atmospheric sets, referential cinematography, and the plot was gripping. It was as if he combined the best elements of his other films “Call Me By Your Name” and “Suspiria”.
But in opposition to all of the praise I can throw at the movie; for being a movie called “Queer“, I felt it really lacked actual queers. The principal characters are played by two heterosexual actors, Drew Starkey, and Daniel Craig, and they do a fantastic job, but it just feels a bit inappropriate at a certain point, especially when the same thing happened with “Call Me By Your Name”, where Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer are also both heterosexual men in gay drag. The other substantial male roles in “Queer” are played by Jason Schwartzman, Drew Droege, and Omar Apollo, the latter two being queer actors, but Jason Schwartzman is heterosexual, and his role largely outsizes those of the other two. It is also worth noting that Omar Apollo plays a nameless character who is only an object of sexual gratification, and Drew Droge plays an extremely flamboyant homosexual “queen” type.
The trivializing of gay men, the practice of relegating gay actors to playing mainly one-note static comedic roles, is slightly dehumanizing to the gay community at large. How can a community be taken seriously when their depictions in the media always skew towards silly. No one takes clowns seriously, and in our current political environment, how can that possibly be at all helpful to our plight?
All of my ruminations about Guadagnino’s filmography reminded me of my thoughts about his 2022 film “Bones and All”. Again, I’m a big fan, so I saw this in theaters with my best friends when it came out. A coming-of-age American gothic horror billed as an LGBTQ movie, AND Chloe Sevigny is in it? Say no more. But, I left the theater dissatisfied, and my friends felt equally passionate that the movie fell short of the expectations we had. Referencing my own Letterboxd review,“…I think that regression is a common thread throughout this movie. I know they have been pushing this narrative of progression and accepting yourself and what makes you different- but I’m puzzled as to why they then decided to make the main characters cis and hetero-presenting…? Like it makes no sense. I think they hinted at Lee being fruity by like his clothes and the hot carnival guy he ate, but like it stops there, after he eats him. Like I feel like it could’ve actually been a good movie if instead of pushing heteronormativity and calling it progressive, they actually developed the characters and their actual abnormalities and not just cannibalism.” And to paraphrase the rest for brevity’s sake, more could have been done to push the idea of these people being people on the fringes of society. They could explore the effects of repressing sexuality and living a double life (through Lance abandoning his family) and then have Maren and Lance compete for Lee. That might have been entertaining.
But, on a less cynical note, the film appeared to be readily praised and embraced by the LGBTQIA+ community at large. Even inspiring Ethel Cain to release a song inspired by the film, “Famous Last Words (An Ode to Eaters)” which is one of my favorite songs she’s ever made. I also understand that this was a book before it was adapted as a film by Guadagnino, but I still think as the director you should elevate the source material. It just seems like a very repetitive pattern of including a minimal amount of queer representation within his films.
I also find it worthy of note that Guadagnino is an openly gay man himself. This creates added nuance and complexity to my critiques of his works. If he is a gay man who is making art about our experiences and communities, and he doesn’t seem to pay any mind to the sexuality of the actors within his films, then should I? Am I placing too much importance and gravitas on the personal identity of the actors? Maybe. But I do not think it would hurt or go unnoticed if he started casting more queer or visibly-queer actors in his leading roles, especially if it is a queer character that they are playing.
To end this on a less doomed or cynical note than usual, I have some summer homework for all of you who care. I have put together a list of 10 LGBTQIA+ films I love that you should watch over the summer. The first film on the itinerary is “Problemista” by Julio Torres. Number two is “Strange Way of Life” by one of my all-time favorite directors, Pedro Almodóvar. Next is “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” an epic comedic thriller by female director Halina Reijn. Number four is “Happy Together” by Wong Kar-Wai, a stunningly filmed story about a dysfunctional homosexual couple and their on-again-off-again relationship. Gus Van Sant’s “My Own Private Idaho” is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” but it’s a very loose adaptation. Gay director Todd Haynes’ film “Poison” is split into three short films of very different styles that all investigate fear and the human condition. Caravaggio, the film, is visually stunning, and Tilda Swinton plays a large role. “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant” by Rainer Werner Fassbinder follows the complicated relationships between fashion designer Petra, her assistant Marlene, and her muse Karin, all without leaving her swanky apartment. If you know about the Greek drama “Oedipus Rex,” then you should check out “Funeral Parade of Roses” by Toshio Matsumoto, where Oedipus is a drag queen working in the underground gay scene in 1960s Tokyo. Saving one of my Letterboxd top four for last, we have Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece “Persona”. This movie is in Swedish, and it’s black and white, but I showed it to my friends last summer, and the entire room was entranced. The performances are flawless, and the plot is so gripping it’s no wonder that it is what inspired David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive”. I hope you watch some of these, and please have a good summer.
Words by Benjamin Pulka
Graphic by Aubrey Lauer