Powerfully Poignant Romance

Rating: 8/10 (3 January 2018)

Have you ever seen a movie that you liked but then once you see the ending you really really liked the movie? Well, that was Call Me By Your Name for me. What is undoubtedly a good movie for 115 minutes, becomes a great one after the full 132 minutes. Luca Guadagnino directs this film in such a calming but yet provocative manner. When the film needs to heat up, it does, and when it needs to slow down and provide a more methodical and thoughtful approach to romance, it most certainly does that as well.
I guess with every big film there's always a section of the audience that comes out with serious backlash to some sort of aspect to the story. With Call Me By Your Name, it was that the romance between a 24-year old male (Oliver, played by Armie Hammer) and a 17-year old male (Ellio, played by Timothee Chalamet) is unethical and highly controversial. While I can't speak for how that particular group of people felt watching the film, I can tell you that I never once felt like this was a relationship that wasn't consensual. In fact, it's not even so much that it was definitely portrayed as consensual by the two males (and the parents of the younger male for that matter), but it's that the film never makes an outright statement saying that a relationship with this age gap is "right". It's a fictional story with fictional people. No one is telling you this relationship is right or glorifying what is considered to be a forbidden relationship.
Personally, I took it more as a young male figuring out love for the first time and the person who helps him discover that love is an older (albeit only 7 years) male with more experience. I won't tell anyone who feels differently that they are wrong, that's simply the way I saw the story play out. And if I'm being honest, I thought the relationship between Ellio and Oliver was beautifully told and portrayed. Chalamet is magnetic and relatable (no matter what your sexual preference is) and Hammer nicely balanced the "hard to get" and effortlessly desirable part of the romance. I'm a straight man in my mid-20's but I found there to be things very relatable in both of their characters.
The film also does a good job of presenting a world that feels foreign but also approachable. Taking place in Italy and in 1983, Call Me By Your Name is great escapist cinema, while also being something timeless in storytelling. Something only few films can capture, a few being Richard Linklater's Before Trilogy, which was clearly an inspiration. My only gripe would probably be the pacing, which is purposefully slower in nature. For me, I just would have liked something that gets to the punch a little quicker. Speaking of "the punch", the clear winner of this picture is Michael Stuhlbarg's ending speech about love to Ellio. I never thought a short monologue from one man to another could be so powerfully poignant, but that was this speech.
8.6/10