Boring, Slow and Long

Rating: Null/10 (1 January 2018)

I just saw this with my wife and three of our gay friends. One of the guys who also read the book, liked the film, but didn't love it. The two other guys thought it was just ok. My wife said it was ok, but was very disappointed based on the hype surrounding it. I thought the movie absolutely sucked and I would have left the theatre if I could have. At least four of us would have switched the film to something else if we were watching it at home simply out of sheer boredom. Everyone agreed that Armie Hammer looked too old, and Timothée Chalamet too young not to be creeped out by pedophilia issues. Chalamet's character is supposed to be 17, which would make Hammer's actions illegal in some places, and just plain creepy in others. I guess that's why the story takes place in Italy. The film is a pretty picture that combines child sex/romance with very slow pacing, interminable still art shots and the very long run time. I would avoid unless you like slow moving European arthouse flicks with a Lolita like storyline. In fairness, I would give this movie a zero while my wife and friends would give it a 6, hence the 3. I have no idea how it's getting so many 10's. It's probably just because of the gay romance theme. If the child character were a girl, people would probably be giving it much lower scores.