Men who pause

Two movies, in two languages, many generations apart, explore a rarer side of their male heroes — their frailty

- Deepanjana Pal

The last place you'd expect to find James Bond, the epitome of conventional heroic masculinity, is in a Luca Guadagnino movie. Not only does the director favour mood over plot and action, his lush storytelling adds an edge of queerness to even the straightest of situations. Yet, with Daniel Craig, who has had the longest tenure as James Bond (15 years), Guadagnino delivers one of his best films and draws out of Craig a career-best performance.

In the Oscar-nominated Queer, Craig plays Lee, a character modelled on the writer William S Burroughs, who wrote the novel of the same name, on which this film is based.

Lee is frequently seen with a drink, a gun and arm candy, but he is no queer James Bond. He's unkempt, in crumpled suits, and has the air of a junkie.