Luca Guadagnino's tender film fills the senses

Rating: Null/10 (9 December 2017)

Luca Guadagnino is one of our most sensual filmmakers. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, like his previous A BIGGER SPLASH and I AM LOVE are filled with scenes touching upon all the senses. Guadagnino gorgeously captures images of beautiful objects, locations, books and, of course, the pleasures of the flesh. His soundtracks are filled with the sounds of nature as well as overflowing with music (usually classical, but, with more modern nods to the Rolling Stones and the Psychedelic Furs). His characters luxuriate with the smells of food and they caress the world around them.
It is within that world that screenwriter James Ivory (adapting AndrÃ© Aciman's novel) places our main characters seventeen year old Elio (Timothy Chalamet) and twenty-something Oliver (Armie Hammer). Every year, Elio's parents Professor Perlman (Michael Stuhlbarg) and Anella (Amira Casar) invite a research assistant to their idyllic villa in Northern Italy. In 1983, that person is Oliver, an American who sweeps into town with his good looks and cool persona. Oliver simultaneously attracts the attention of the ladies in town - as well as Elio. Complicating matters is that Elio is also having a summer romance with a young Parisian Marzia (Esther Garrel).
While on the surface, this may seem like a simple potboiler, Ivory, Guadagnino and the cast gracefully ease the audience into the tale. The film takes full advantage of the 132 minute run-time. Nothing is hurried. No shortcuts taken. The emotions are given time to build organically. It's like a lovely concerto that plays out to its own meter. The pacing may be too languid for those who demand a more forceful drama, but, CALL ME is a film to soak in. To luxuriate within. The subtext and the atmosphere not only inform the main story, they become part of it. By the time Elio and Oliver's infatuation is consummated, you have fully invested in them.
CALL ME is deliberately set in the early 80s - just as AIDS was becoming a concern, and, of course, long before coming out was accepted. And, some may find the idyllic setting a bit too perfect. Hammer's performance is a bit too flat at the beginning, but, pays off as it progresses. Chalamat (also strong in the current LADY BIRD) brings off the extremely difficult task of externalizing what is largely and internalized character - simmering until it boils. Stuhlbarg is largely a background figure for much of the story-line, but, is sterling in one of the film's key scenes. Guardagnino's choices of music is impeccable (including pieces by Bach, Revel and Satie) and Sayombhu Mukdeeprom's 35mm film lensing captures every moment exquisitely.
On the surface, a collaboration between a sensualist like Guadagnino and the reserved James Ivory (as in Merchant-Ivory) may seem a bit of a mismatch, but, it works beautifully. Together (with the cast & crew), they have created one of the year's most indelible films.