Movie Review

Love isn't dead in the romantic and futuristic Swan Song

Modern films that are set in the future tend to make it look both glamorous and terrifying. In the minds of many filmmakers, the future will have sleek technology that will bring convenience and simplicity to our lives. On the flip side, though, is the possibility that the people in charge of that technology or the technology itself will turn on us, turning that easiness into a nightmare scenario.

The world in Swan Song lies somewhere between those two ideas. Set in an indeterminate point in the future, the film sees Cameron Turner (Mahershala Ali) diagnosed with a terminal disease. Unwilling to break the news to his wife, Poppy (Naomie Harris), with whom he has one child and another on the way, Cameron turns to a solution that will allow him to keep living … at a cost.

That answer lies with Dr. Scott (Glenn Close), who runs a company that is not only capable of cloning patients, but can also transfer their complete memory to the clone, allowing the clone to replace the patients before they die. The idea brings up a number of ethical dilemmas, not least of which is the knowledge that the clone could be living life as you while you’re still living.

Written and directed by Benjamin Cleary, who’s making his debut as a feature filmmaker, the film does one of the best jobs in recent memory of integrating future elements into a story without making it all about those parts. An early scene showing the first time Cameron and Poppy met involves a robot that seemingly magically conjures food, but the point of the scene is the connection between the two people, not the fantastical stuff around them.

Likewise, once you get past the sheer idea that a clone could be created and given a person’s memory, the emotions of the situation take over. What must it take for someone to willingly acknowledge their own impending death and hand over control of their life to a clone? How mind-altering would it be to have someone who looks like you, talks like you, and knows everything you do? And, most pressing of all, how difficult would it be to not tell the people you love that you are replacing yourself?

That last one is perhaps the biggest sticking point in the story. Cameron and Poppy are shown to have a very close, perhaps idealized, relationship. Are we really to believe that Poppy has no idea about Cameron’s dire situation? Cameron has multiple close calls where his condition is almost revealed to Poppy, to the point where Cleary is pushing the edges of plausibility that Poppy can still remain in the dark.

The reason that he can get away with the subterfuge is because he, Ali, and Harris crafted a bond that rivals some of the great romances. Although their relationship is shown mostly in flashback memories, it’s nearly impossible not to swoon over the love Cameron and Poppy have for each other. Both Ali and Harris have rarely been better, each reaching for emotions that are unique and universal at the same time.

The type of story told in Swan Song is typically darker than the one it actually presents, but that doesn’t make its drama any less. It showcases the beauty of both life and death, and the lengths we will go to help the ones we love.

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Swan Song is now playing in select theaters and on Apple TV+.

Mahershala Ali and ... Mahershala Ali in Swan Song.

Mahershala Ali in Swan Song

Photo courtesy of Apple TV+

Mahershala Ali and ... Mahershala Ali in Swan Song.

Movie Review

Daniel Craig searches for elusive new bond in audacious film Queer

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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