Page 68 - Metropolis Magazine nº115

si, who, after careful research of the sing—that since the film wasn't shot various audio recordings that have
real locations, opted for a certain aes- in Mexico, the director has avoided come down to us, both of Burroughs
thetic and sound artificiality where, the temptation to use the ridiculous and the other writers in the group.
for example, he placed anachronistic sepia-yellow filter that has blighted This particular cadence was well
neon signs that, with their different cinema since Steven Soderbergh used achieved in David Cronenberg's adap-
colour gradations, reflected the ef- it in "Traffic" (2000). But it is perhaps tation of “Naked Lunch” (1991), both
fects of the drugs on the protagonist. in the soundtrack that lies one of the visually and through Howard Shore's
In addition, in the forest scenes, fil- main keys to interpretation and why compositions, as well as Peter Weller's
med in situ, there is a deliberate use this is a movie that harks back to the elocution in the role of Lee. But Gua-
of studio lights. These choices, plus Italian director's youth. dagnino wraps his movie in a musical
meticulous framing, mise-en-scène, atmosphere that goes from the late
and palette, gave the film a saturated One of the interpretations that has 1980s to the mid-1990s with artists
theatricality, somewhere between been given to the Beat Generation like Nirvana, New Order, or Prince.
Baroque and Brecht, reminiscent of refers to the rhythm/beat because This choice was obviously not an in-
“Querelle” (1982) by Rainer Werner the writing of this movement has a nocent one: the beatnik movement
Fassbinder, a filmmaker of whom very specific and dissonant cadence, found an echo in that generation. The
Guadagnino admits to being a great close to the more progressive jazz ideals I described at the beginning of
admirer. It's worth noting—and prai- movements. We can still see it in the the text were always, in a way, dear

68 METROPOLIS FEBRUARY 2025