Not enough there to recommend it

Rating: 6/10 (1 February 2018)

There is a sweet, gentle, coming-of-age love story at the center of CALL ME BY YOUR NAME. You will need to check your own compass to decide whether a homosexual sweet, gentle, coming-of-age love story between a 17 year old boy and a 23 year old grad student is the type of movie for you. But, if you give this one a chance, it is sweet and...well, gentle.
It also is slow, languid and devoid of much story, but full of beautiful images, angst and heart.
Based on the acclaimed novel by Andre Aciman, with a screenplay by James Ivory (of Merchant/Ivory fame) and directed by Italian Director Luca Guadagnino, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME tells the story of Elio, who is discovering life and love while spending the summer in Italy with his College professor father, his mother and graduate student Oliver, who lives with them while working with the professor. Elio discovers his own identity and sexuality when he builds a relationship with local female Marzia and then with Oliver.
The lynch-pin of this film is the character of Elio, since we spend the entire film with him, and in the hands of Academy Award nominee Timothee Chalamet, we are in good hands. This young actor,shows much angst and frustration and the depths of joy, love and sadness in his face (often-times in the same shot) that made this character seem very real to me. Chalamet well deserves his Oscar nomination. Strongly complimenting him is Amira Casar as his mother, Esther Garrel as Marzia and, especially Michael Stuhlbarg as his college professor father. I had heard grumbling that Stuhlbarg should have been nominated for an Oscar, and I didn't quite see that - UNTIL - the final scene between father and son, which is (in essence) a marvelous long monologue by Stuhlbarg that is delivered in a quiet and unflashy fashion. This scene is worth the price of admission itself.
And that is good, for the rest of the film is just as quiet as this final father/son scene. This movie is quiet, real quiet, almost...too quiet. I would have preferred some variation in mood and pacing along the way and this is because I really didn't care for the performance of Arme Hammer as Oliver. An actor I normally like, his character's age was supposed to be around 23 (which would only make a 6 year difference between the two characters), but Hammer is 31 and looks (and plays) mid-'30's, while the youthful looking Chalamet (who is 22) is playing a believable 17 year old. This difference in age (for me) took me out of this film. I would have liked to have seen this with someone who looks (plays) 10 years younger than Hammer. As it was, I kept getting a feeling of Oliver taking advantage (and not falling in love) with Elio, so didn't buy his exhortations of love.
If you can get past that, the film is beautifully shot, but there just isn't enough story or variations of pace to make this one to recommend (besides the performances of Chalamet and Stuhlbarg).
This film is nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor, Chalamet (deserved) and Best Picture (not deserved at all).
Letter Grade: B-
6 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)