It's the summer of 1983, and precocious 17-year-old Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet) is spending the days with his family at their 17th-century villa in Lombardy, Italy. He soon meets Oliver (Armie Hammer), a handsome doctoral student who's working as an intern for Elio's father (Michael Stuhlbarg). Amid the sun-drenched splendour of their surroundings, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.
Review:
"Call me by your name and I'll call you by mine".
That line, spoken by Armie Hammer's character Oliver, is what epitomized the book, on which the movie is based, and it aptly fits the movie too.
It deals with summer romance, a passion for education, and the freedom to enjoy life and desire without judgement or labelling. The movie takes these aspects of the book and adds the most vibrant visual colour, courtesy of director Luca Guadagnino.
Call Me By Your Name deserves to be recognised for its technical feats as so much thought went into portraying Lombardy, Italy in the 1980's. The movie isn't a constant stream of 80's references, but rather subtle nods to the time while feeling like the story could take place in present day as well.
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A way which the movie improves on the book is the casting of relative newcomer Timothée Chalamet. Elio is supposed to be this young, precocious but highly intelligent 17-year-old. In the novel, there are moments in which he feels petulant and riddled with angst. Chalamet does a marvellous task of taking such a character and walking a fine line between both aspects.
The movie could have easily fallen apart had one aspect of Elio's personality been over-exaggerated, but there is a nuance in Chalamet's performance that does not remove the petulance and angst of his character, but shows that the young actor knows when and how to use those traits.
Armie Hammer has always been the rugged and handsome leading man, but it's been a quality that Hollywood hasn't known how to utilise in movies. Call Me By Your Name gives Hammer, the chance to shine and also take a role of a masculine man, and imbue it with unexpected vulnerability when needed.
The movie is very faithful to the book, and in that sense, it sits in the story that we've been presented. The first hour of Call Me By Your Name, gives us a look at the lives that these characters lead, making us fall in love with their routine. The movie lives in their day-to-day - an accurate way to describe this is the sense of wanderlust it creates for the viewer.
When it finally gets into showcasing their budding romance, there is a charming quality to it, and you can't help but become invested. The movie thrives and flourishes when we see their relationship evolve from friendship into romance. The film feels like it is recreating the feeling of a first love, and it succeeds.
Call Me By Your Name is in many ways, an Oscar bait art-house movie, but one of the reasons it is more than just a regular arthouse film is because of the dialogue. Michael Stuhlbarg gives a goosebump-inducing speech as Elio's father towards the end of the film, and it's delivered with such charisma and authenticity that he should have received an Oscar nomination for it.
However, the film does diverge from the book, and does not go on to show what happens years later for the characters, but director Luca has in recent interviews revealed that he hopes to treat this movie as something akin to a decades-long 'Before Sunrise'-like series.
Call Me By Your Name is a beautifully shot film, and is worth watching. It is by no means going to redefine the queer cinema genre, but it's a sweet entry that appeals to a universal audience and will leave you feeling emotionally affected.