If “Lady Bird”
is a comedic slice of life coming-of-age story of a 17 year-old girl
from a lower middle class family, “Call Me By Your Name” is the
dramatic version about a 17 year-old boy from an affluent family
living abroad in Northern Italy. Both films even share a key
ingredient, a new rising star named Timothée Chalamet. This gorgeous
film is about desire and heartbreak (they usually go hand-in-hand)
and is about that moment in your life where your views on the world
open up and anything seems possible. Director Luca Guadagnino has
crafted a reserved and quiet film that is almost a bit too
literate. It's hard to connect to a family whose patriarch is an
archeology professor and whose son refers to novels and musicians no
one's really ever heard of. But on the flip-side it is easy to
connect to an introspective teenager as he discovers more about
himself because we've all been there at some point whether it has to
do with sexuality or not. In a lot of ways the film would work well as a double feature with last year's Oscar-winner "Moonlight."
Set during the
summer of 1983 in an old school sun-soaked Italian countryside, “Call
Me By Your Name” can't possibly get any more beautiful. The film
follows 17 year-old Elio (Chalamet) as he's forced to give up his
bedroom for his professor father's graduate school research assistant
moves in for the summer. This happy-go-lucky man is Oliver (Armie
Hammer) and there's a fleeting connection between the introverted
Elio and Oliver's more extroverted personality. From here we sort of
get a collection of moments between Elio, who, while pursuing a
sexual relationship with his girlfriend, find strange attraction to
the new guest. Meanwhile, Oliver who also catches the eye of a young
Italian woman and is strangely fascinated by Elio as well. Oliver and
Elio soon form a bond that begins to go beyond mere friendship. You
know the drill. It's like the Italian countryside version of
“Brokeback Mountain.” It's also yet another film about gay
people, who don't identify as such, who can't simply be happy and
content with being who they are. They're secretive about their
relationship but because this is a film set over thirty years ago
there's no way they can really end up together. Of course, it doesn't
help that Oliver is moving back home to the United States at the
summer's end.
The film, written by
James Ivory (yes from the Merchant & Ivory duo) certainly takes
its time exploring the characters are they traverse various Italian
locations whether it's a swimming hole or bike path. The film looks
exquisite but it's a direct counterbalance of the darkness and
confusion going on between the two main protagonists. They long for
each other but for half the film neither of them act on it. And in
those terms it feels like an extremely long waiting game. But once
Oliver and Elio do finally get together it feels worth the wait and
the fears and anxiety and anticipation give way to happiness and
pleasure and comfort. And then the sobering realization that there's
no way this can have a happy ending. Eventually the heartbreak that
comes from lovers being forced to part gives way to a scene between
father and son that is emotional apex of the entire film and features
a truly moving piece of acting from Michael Stuhlbarg.
“Call Me by Your
Name” is an ultimately moving film. Its beautifully lyrical and the
performances are subtle even if a lot of the overly intellectual
dialogue goes over the head once in a while. The chemistry between
the leads is palatable. The film is erotic without ever being exploitative. There isn't a lot of flashy over-the-top dramatic
scenes it's a very quiet film that likes to take its time. Guadagnino
even uses music in a unique way and the soundtrack is filled with
classical pieces and nostalgia-enduing pop tunes. Even if the film
doesn't leave you on a high note, it's not dark or depressing or
tragic the way some gay love stories turn out. The film is
naturalistic (if not completely realistic), earns empathy for the
main characters, and even though I still find it hard to identify
with a family living it up in an Italian paradise (even with Italian
in my blood), the film's more obvious themes are things any human
being will easily find relatable. If the melancholy film doesn't
immediately click with you, there are aspects that will certainly
stay with you. GRADE: B+
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