One of the first real signs that "Queer" is going to be an unconventional movie is when Daniel Craig in a linen suit saunters through Mexico City during the early '50s and the soundtrack blasts a song by Nirvana.

It's a pretty nifty way to explain this story of a man unmoored by time, geography and himself. Craig plays William Lee, an American hiding out in Mexico who spends his time going from bar to bar, knocking back tequila or mescal.

Why is he hiding out? For one thing, he's a junkie and Mexico is more permissive about heroin use than the States at this time. He's also gay when being gay was abhorrent and Mexico was, again, more permissive. Lee is part of a wealthy expat contingent that fritters away the days stewed in liquor and gossip.

He doesn't just sound like a William S. Burroughs hero, he's partly Burroughs himself — "Queer" was a confessional novella written long before his breakthrough novel "Naked Lunch." So buckle up. You're going to see some weird stuff.

"Queer" is best when it's a character study of Lee, who in Craig's hands is charming, selfish, arrogant, abrasive, foppish and sometimes unable to read a room. It's a million miles from 007, even if Lee carries a pistol. Craig allows us to see the yearning for real love that Lee numbs with shot glasses and needles. That Nirvana song is "Come as You Are."

One day that real love suddenly appears in the form of the younger Eugene Allerton (a superb, icy Drew Starkey), who unlocks something in Lee. Could Eugene be the one to make Lee whole? Could they ride off into the sunset? Don't be silly. This is a Burroughs story.

Eugene is on-again, off-again, sometimes loving Lee and sometimes preferring a woman's company. Part of Eugene seems to dislike Lee or being... Read More