Call Me by Your Name 2017

Is it better to speak or die?

8.148 / 10   11706 vote(s)
R
Romance Drama

In 1980s Italy, a relationship begins between seventeen-year-old teenage Elio and the older adult man hired as his father's research assistant.

Homepage http://sonyclassics.com/callmebyyourname/
Release Date 2017-09-01
Runtime 2h 12m
Directors Luca Guadagnino, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Manuela D'Ovidio, Dominique Delany, Paolo Sponzilli, Briseide Siciliano, Riccardo Zurla, Ferdinando Cito Filomarino
Producers Emilie Georges, Luca Guadagnino, Rodrigo Teixeira, Marco Morabito, Peter Spears, Margarethe Baillou, Allan Neuwirth, Abdi Nazemian, Naima Abed, Lourenço Sant'Anna, Stella Savino, Howard Rosenman, Tom Dolby, Kim Surowicz, Sophie Mas, Susanne Filkins, James Ivory, Virginia Cefaly, Nicholas Kaiser, Francesco Melzi d'Eril, Derek Simonds
Writers James Ivory, André Aciman

Alongside Weekend and Moonlight, Call Me By Your Name is the greatest queer film I have seen in the past ten years. It's a gorgeous, quiet masterwork - Luca Guadagnino has given us something truly special here. I'll cherish this one for a long, long time as it's extremely human and very personal. The fact that the legendary James Ivory wrote the screenplay for this shoots this over the top and slam dunks it into the cinematic stratosphere. Truly stunning work that deserves to be remembered, preserved, and celebrated for decades to come.

The performances in this are so mesmerizing. I've never liked Armie Hammer as much as I like him in this. He really embodies his character and it's a lived in, fully realized performance. Timothée Chalamet - who has a great year ahead of him with other big projects - is absolutely captivating as the young lead in this coming-of-age tale. I've seen many a coming-of-age film, but this one is one of the truest portrayals of a gay youth coming to terms with his sexuality, emotions, and his own body.

There are so many phenomenal scenes, but the one that stands out above the rest - and the one that made me cry in a theatre full of festivalgoers - is Michael Stuhlbarg's final monologue. It's one of the most honest and real moments I've seen in any film and one of the best father and son moments too. Crossing my fingers so hard that this becomes a huge critical darling and garners some attention come awards time (specifically for Guadagnino, Ivory, Chalamet, and Stuhlbarg).

Oh, and bonus points for that final shot of Chalamet's face as the credits roll. It's the best of its kind since Glazer's Birth in 2004 when Nicole Kidman shattered all of our souls. Chalamet does the same thing here and it's overwhelmingly stunning.

jessetaylor

A near-perfect, timeless movie which will be responsible for many tears and yeast infections. Languid small-town living is captured perfectly, as is the tentative romance between the leads. I can't think of any substantive criticism until the last 25 minutes, when the movie becomes sloppy, less of a climax than a dissipation. (And personally, I'd have liked to see a sliver more of sexuality, which is oddly lacking.) Still, it's good. Watch it.

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