Filmmaker inspired by LGBTQ literature
The film "Queer," which was released in Japan this year, is based on the novel of the same name by William S. Burroughs, known as one of the "beatnik trio." Set in Mexico in the 1950s, the film tells the heartbreaking love story of a middle-aged man, likely Burroughs himself, addicted to drugs, who falls in love with a young man.
Director Luca Guadagnino (who is gay himself) encountered the book when he was 17 years old and realized that "the ways of self-expression are vast and do not need to conform to a pre-determined logic." The film, which was made more than 30 years later, can be said to be the crystallization of the inspiration Luca got from Burroughs.
Luca spent much of his adolescence in solitude, working in bookstores. Perhaps this is why, in addition to Queer, his works often reference literature. For example, in We Are Who We Are, a drama about the adolescence of a group of boys and girls living on a US military base in Italy, there is a memorable scene in which the protagonist reads aloud Ocean Vuong's poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds.
Luca holds Vuong, who was born in Vietnam in 1988 and came to America with his family as a refugee, in high esteem, and there were rumors at one point that he would adapt his autobiographical novel, "On Earth." This film, about a young man at the mercy of his complicated family background who grows through his love for an older man, is certainly a perfect fit for a Luca work. Luca is set to remake "American Psycho," also based on a novel, and it would be great to see "On Earth" become a reality.
"Queer" by William S. Burroughs / Translated by Hiroo Yamagata Keiichiro YANASHITA
Lee, addicted to drugs in Mexico, approaches the young man Allerton in search of a connection and takes him on a journey to find the ultimate drug. Kawade Bunko / 1,100 yen.
"On Earth, We Shine for a Moment" by Ocean Vuong, translated by Yoshihiko Kihara
"I" was brought to America by my grandmother and mother as a refugee from Vietnam. The heartbreaking events that "I" experienced there are written in the form of letters to my mother, who cannot understand English. Shinchosha / 2,420 yen.
