Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey experience sensory overload in ‘Queer’ trailer

The first trailer for Luca Guadagnino’s forthcoming film Queer is a sensory overload of epic proportions. Daniel Craig leads the film, set for release Nov. 27, as William Lee. He brings to the screen a tangible sense of nervous curiosity as he circles Drew Starkey’s Eugene Allerton. “I want to talk to you,” he tells him, pausing before adding a caveat: “Without speaking.”

The trailer pays close attention to movement and touch. There are centipedes that crawl across the screen, accompanied by the subtle, chilling sound of one hundred legs moving. In another instance, Craig and Starkey’s bodies move through the water of a swimming pool. During one of their early encounters, the pair sit across from each other, close enough in proximity for a charge to ignite but not close enough to tamper with their yearning. In that scene, a phantom shadow of Craig’s arm caresses Starkey as they speak.

There are rattling leaves, slithering snakes, and clinking glasses. There are crumbled sheets, strolls down red hallways, and tangled limbs. The sensory details of the film, set in 1950, are presented in the trailer as if being discovered and experienced for the first time. It might feel that way for William. A synopsis describes him as an American expat who spends most of his time alone in Mexico City. Devoid of connection, he finds himself drawn to Eugene, an expat former soldier who cracks open William’s world with a sense of intimacy that the older man has grown unfamiliar with.

Queer marks Guadagnino’s second film release this year, following Challengers. It also features Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, Henrique Zaga, and Omar Apollo. The A24 film is based on the novel by William S. Burroughs with a screenplay from Justin Kuritzkes.