Call Me By Your Name: 9.4

Rating: 9/10 (10 April 2018)

In this portrait of first love, you are first introduced to Northern Italy in the summer of 1983. A place within a matter of minutes, you find yourself suddenly wanting to vacation there. The way the film is shot is definitely one of the main reasons for thinking so. In every scene, you feel the exact temperature, the breeze from outside through the window, how cold the pool water is, you feel the sunlight hit your skin, and going out in the cool night air. The cinematography masterfully uses warm and cold colors that exaggerates these feelings. Entire scenes are one shot, but not in an ostentatious way. They are done subtlety with simple and faint camera movements. The only way to notice these shots are if you're on the look out for them, if not they swift passed you. The quality of the cinematography is duplicated when it comes to the music. The piano music gives an elegance to what transpires on screen, other times it's used to provoke tears. Three Songs by Sufjan Stevens add they're own emotions and themes to their given scenes. The themes being absence, happiness, and melancholy. The same themes are also conveyed through the words of the characters. The beautifully written script gives the characters words that chisel in your mind, and make your heart feel enlightened. These words are impeccably acted by a cast that is inviting to watch. Timothee Chalamet portrays Elio as an awkward cool kid. Two characteristics that usually contradict each other, but when they're embedded in a character like Elio, they feel like a new characteristic entirely. Chalamet conducts an attractive character to watch live his life, even when he's doing something dull like reading. Micheal Stuhlbarg plays Mr. Perlman, Elio's dad. He's a character that you forget to appreciate until near the end, when you notice how important he is to the story. And how he tells Elio advice about life and love that warms your heart, but also makes it feel heavier. Oliver is embodied through Armie Hammer. He slowly weaves an intimate connection to Elio, at the same time he starts to gel into a member of the family. Overall, this movie leaves you with the seeds of the characters planted inside of you, allowing you to learn something from each of them. While doing so it tells the story of the characters in a stylistic and beautiful manner. So I give it a 9.4, which makes it 18th in my top 50 movies of all time.