44/10

Features of The Gunman (1950)

In 1950s Mexico City, an American immigrant in his late forties lives a lonely life amidst a small American community. However, the arrival of a young student forces him to finally establish a meaningful relationship with someone. Ultimately, it was Daniel Craig who convinced Luca Guadagnino to cast Drew Starkey after watching an audition tape with Guadagnino and telling him "This is the guy" after seeing Starkey… William Lee: Sit on Your Ass! Or What’s Left of Him After Four Years in the Navy..

Despite drinking and chatting together, she’s still not sure if her new challenge is up to a furious jog

If it weren’t for a previous “007” in it, I think this would be an almost instantly forgettable gay-themed drama that could easily be found on Dekkoo in a year or two. By the way, Daniel Craig is the independently wealthy "Lee" and lives in a Mexico City where she tries to pick up young men between tequila and heroine sessions. She’s not bad looking, so she usually gets some entertainment (paid or otherwise), but then she notices a mysterious young man who comes to the local bar to play chess with a redheaded woman. Her interested, usually effective introduction falls on beautiful but uninterested eyes and ears, but she perseveres and soon manages to befriend "Eugene" (Drew Starkey). In fact, the young man is so noncommittal and manageable that she can hardly be sure of anything about him.

Maybe if he finds it, he can reach into the mind of his beautiful opponent?

Napoleon brandy can help provide an answer, and it is – of its kind, but extremely satisfying for the older man, who is clearly becoming obsessed with a man who is, at best, indifferent to her. "Lee" is not used to this feeling, but he simply has to find something more meaningful with this man. He can’t just be another notch in the bed frame, so he thinks of a trip around South America and a traveling companion. Why there? Well, he’s read about a secret factory that he believes the KGB and CIA use for their famous telepathic powers.

At the very end, the closing slide says: "William S

What the men manage to find in the middle of the Ecuadorian jungle is Lesley Manville, and at this point the wheels really come off on me. Burroughs' Queer" as if Luca Guadagnino is telling us, "Don’t blame me." Sure, there are sex scenes, but they’re all flashed and will be missed (and in traces anyway), so what’s really left? The story of an aging drunk and a narcissistic young man playing a rather depressing form of “cat and mouse.” Is it a “house”? To be fair, Craig does give a strong performance, but to what end? His character has nowhere to go, and his addictions are neither engaging nor particularly believable, as the second half of the story delves into the surreal in rather desperate fashion.

He’s bizarrely unfulfilling on almost every front, and truly characteristically impotent

Starkey has very few meaningful lines, so he relies on his perfectly masculine appearance to present a persona that’s easy on the eyes but doesn’t bother the brain, and that’s largely in keeping with the overall story, which is just lacking substance. There’s just nothing natural about him, and speaking of flawed humanity, well, what the heck – I didn’t care. He looks good, he sounds good, and he has a completely polished surface, but like a meringue, he has little to do with it.