Review: Call Me By Your Name

Call Me By Your Name (2017) - Luca Guadgagnino

       I have been putting off writing this review for a few days now, and I'm not entirely sure why. I suppose, on some level, I am intimidated by the idea of reviewing this movie, and not just because it's sooooooo great (it is a very good movie) and I don't want to get gushy. It's something more elusive. Call Me By Your Name is a beautiful film filled with gorgeous imagery, caring performances, and unbelievably well-crafted characters. This movie is extremely intimate and personal, so much so it's almost like I shouldn't even be watching it. It has the quality of making you feel like you're quietly spying on two people falling in love over the course of a summer. It's a quiet film of the utmost captivation, and one's response to the film is dependent entirely on how emotionally you attach yourselves to the characters involved. Personally, I had a strong reaction watching this movie, and putting it into categories of "good" and "bad" (partially useless because it's all very good) are even more unnecessary because this movie is all about mood, atmosphere, and honest feeling.
       TL;DR this movie is great and heartbreaking.

        The film takes place somewhere in Northern Italy (the exact location never specified, giving the story a kind of ethereal feeling from the beginning, as if it could be anywhere and nowhere, an impossibly beautiful setting where everyone is gorgeous and speaks seven languages), in the summer of 1983. The time period, like most of the movie, really, is a quietly curious little detail. It certainly shapes some of the style of the story, but for the most part it could take place any time. But it adds an interesting depth that is below a thin, Richard Butler-y layer. Timothee Chalamet stars as Elio, seventeen-years-old, extremely intelligent and piano ingenue but perceptively quiet, while he and his family of professors and prodigies are vacationing in practically unrealistically beautiful Italy, like they do every year. And like every year, his father (Michael Stuhlbarg) has a college student/research assistant from the states stay with them. This year it's Armie Hammer's Oliver, Adonis-sexy and impossibly sculptured, if not a bit aloof to the point of impolite.
       And basically everyone just has a nice summer and they're all friends and then it's over.
       Haha, of course not, people start fuckin'. And it's pretty hot.

      The point is, the plot that follows is barely there and whatever is is barely worth describing. What matters is the slow, almost cautious atmosphere the movie creates around these two characters, who despite their palpable (and did I mention hot?) attraction to each other, are confused by their own emerging sexuality and the ever-present pressure of societal norms (more on that later).
      While Stuhlbarg and Hammer give amazing turns, the movie belongs to Timothee Chalamet's Elio, who has the difficult job of being simultaneously quiet, engaging, surprising, and relatable. On paper it might seem tough, but Chalamet (who's only 22) sells it so well. He has angst with never seeming angsty, and he imbues every scene he's in with a kind of precocious naivete. He's crazy smart, but he realizes how young he is, but in realizing how young he is once again proves how smart he is. But at the same time he's confused, anxious, a little bit scared--oh yeah--a fucking teenager. Exactly.
       The almost lackadaisical pacing of the film never feels boring for a moment, thanks in large part to the absolutely gorgeous cinematography and direction. I wrote a review recently for All the Money in the World (don't see it, but do read my review!), a movie that also takes place in Italy, and I complained about how muted and grimy every shot in that movie was. A few days later I was so goddamn pleased to see this movie and how dazzlingly it treated the scenery of the dreamy Northern Italy landscapes.

       I make jokes about the sexiness of the movie (cuz that's what I do, I make jokes, also, hot damn Armie Hammer dude, he is one of those hot-ass water statues they done dug up in the sexy ocean), but it also has a very subtle air of heartbreak surrounding it. Not in a way that makes the movie sad, exactly, just in a bittersweet kind of way. I love so much that the movie never makes Elio or Oliver's sexuality the focal point of their love. It's not compelling because they're gay, it's compelling because they are both (Elio in particular) discovering things about themselves they didn't know where there before. It would have been easy to add a crying, disappointed old-world Grandma shaming Elio for wanting to be with a man, but it doesn't do that at all. It's heartbreaking because we know it's not going to last. We know from the beginning Oliver isn't staying long. We know that Elio is only seventeen and there's no way this kind of relationship will sustain itself, even if Elio doesn't know that. Regardless of your preference or personal history of relationships, everyone, ev-er-ee-one, can relate to that exquisite, stupid pain we all felt when we were teenagers and realized something wasn't going to last forever. This movie is that bottled up, nostalgic and sad and beautiful, wrapped up in a fucking gorgeous countryside setting.

Grade: 5 cum-filled nectarines

Random Thoughts:

• I'm supposed to believe Armie Hammer is Jewish? Shyeah-right, that dude is the waspiest, blue-eyest, blonde-hairest Aryan-est looking dude on Earth. He didn't just play one Winklevoss he PLAYED TWO OF THEM. Dude's a Protestant or something fursure.
• Michael Stuhlbarg might be my favorite non-Michael Shannon actor working in Hollywoo right now. Which is another reason why you should all go see Shape of Water. Fuck, I love that flick.