THE STORY – Over two summers, between city streets and forest paths, young art student Adnan has a series of unexpected, intimate encounters.
THE CAST – Laith Khalifeh, Matthew Risch, Joel Isaac, Ezriel Kornel, Céline Costa, John Arthur Peetz & Guillermo García Arriaza
THE TEAM – Lucio Castro (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 81 Minutes
What is it about queer filmmakers that have this amazing ability to capture and bottle the very essence of formative summer romances? Luca Guadignino’s seminal “Call Me By Your Name” perfectly encapsulated that swooning feeling of first love with sumptuous cinematography, an immersive soundscape, and its picturesque Italian countryside setting. And now Lucio Castro’s third film, “Drunken Noodles,” also obtains the magic of the lazy queer summer romance both in a cosmopolitan and a rural environment. Premiering as part of the Acid selection at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, “Drunken Noodles” isn’t anything flashy; in fact, quite the opposite; it’s meandering, contemplative, and at times dabbles in the surreal—the cinematic equivalent of wandering through the forest without a particular destination in mind. But Castro seemingly distills a cocktail of queer themes into a laidback 82-minute feature that will resonate deeply with any queer man who has found themselves adrift and longing for intimacy over those long hot summers.
Set over the space of two summers, told in non-sequential order, the protagonist of “Drunken Noodles” is a young gay man called Adnan (Laith Kahlifeh in his debut role) who, after a chance encounter with a queer artist called Sal (Ezriel Kornel) somewhere in the woodlands of upstate New York, leads him to an internship at an art gallery in Manhattan the following the summer. The Manhattan chapter is technically the last chronologically in the timeline of events, but it is the first sequence the audience watches. Each subsequent chapter provides context as to why Adnan appears so awash in his feelings of ennui, loneliness, and sexual unfulfillment. Whilst flat and cat-sitting for his uncle in a very spacious New York apartment, Adnan spends most of his time looking for romantic connections via apps like Grindr and Cruiser. While casual hookups occur from these apps, the 5-star rating of his delivery driver, Yariel (Joel Issac), leads to his most significant bond in the Big Apple.
During the day, Adnan works in a quaint little gallery in Brooklyn where the work of his elderly summer fling, Sal, is being displayed publicly for the first time. Sal’s work can best be described as erotic gay needlepoint where vibrant sexual tableaus of all male orgies and even fairytales are elaborately woven together. There’s even one particularly saucy canvas of a horny Pinocchio’s nose elongating as he lies for his “daddy” Gepetto. It’s provocative enough that you might never look at Disney’s 1940 animated classic in quite the same way again.
Sal’s threaded pieces are camp, evocative, and strangely whimsical, and it’s not until chapter two, “Two Lawn Chairs,” where we see Adnan and Sal’s first initial meetup, that the inspiration for his work becomes apparent. Sal shows Adnan something beguiling yet weirdly doesn’t feel out of place in this world. To describe what unfolds would detract from the experience of watching it with your own eyes for the first time. But think “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” – the porn edition. This whole interaction with Sal profoundly impacts Adnan, both spiritually and sexually. Even fulfilling one of Adnan’s earliest sexual fantasies he had as an adolescent boy.
In many ways, this film shares many overlapping themes with Guadignios’ “Call Me By Your Name“—art, summer, desire, sex, and connection. These themes intersect in both films, but Castro paints with fantastical and abstract strokes. There’s assured confidence in Castro’s direction, so he can throw in quirky ideas like portals to idyllic gardens via a cruising spot in McCarrens Park and not have them derail the film.
Kahlifeh’s performance fits perfectly within the world of “Drunken Noodles,” which is to say he’s quite detached and unassuming as Adnan. He’s playing a character undergoing a lot of introspection, and Kahlifeh delicately conveys his character’s existential contemplation with ease.
Lucio Castro’s “Drunken Noodles” is a film of contrast. It explores the space that exists between the binaries where gay men often find themselves constantly navigating. Adnan is caught between worlds, whether between city and forest, day and night, or the mystical and reality. He’s striving for intimacy, but his interactions demonstrate that significant meaning and connections can be forged through art, spirituality, and even random sexual encounters. Like Sal’s artwork, there’s interconnectivity through the threads we stitch. The somewhat fractured narrative is odd at first but upon reflection, it all slots together like a comic queer jigsaw puzzle.
