The Powerful Pangs Of First Love.

Rating: 10/10 (24 February 2018)

Call Me By Your Name (2017).

Chipper F. Xavier, Esq.

Most of us can recall that first kiss, that first crush, perhaps even our first love. The first, it may be said, is awkward, grandiose and all-consuming. Rarely is it forgotten, because like all things experienced for the first time, it can never come again.
Call Me By Your Name, a book written by André Aciman and brought to the big screen under the same title by director Luca Guadagnino, features a great setting, lyrical cinematography, an amazing soundtrack and a superb cast; but that's like telling a blind man that water is wet. It is the how, the when and the why of this movie - but that description does little more than scratch the surface.
Call is the story of Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and Oliver (Armie Hammer) in the summer of 1983 in the bucolic setting of Crema, Italy. Elio is a very worldly 17 year old, a healthy and intelligent only-child of scholar parents. Oliver is a 24 year old American graduate student who visits Italy to work as a summer assistant to Professor Perlman (Michael Stuhlbarg). As Oliver moves into Elio's orbit, an inexplicable attraction grows between them, forcing Elio to reevaluate his naive comprehension of love and its myriad meanings.
Director Luca Guadagnino personally conducted the screen tests of Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer by vaguely instructing the two men to make out on a grassy knoll. Rumor has it he walked away mid-kiss because the two actors passed the test - and the rest, as they say, is history.
The success of Call may be attributed to many factors, but since the story is told from the perspective of its youngest star, Timothée Chalamet will receive most of the credit. He is brash, inquisitive, charming and self-assured in a way that breathes real life into the character of Elio. He is in every scene, and as a young man experiencing love for the first time, we cannot help but be reminded of ourselves - yet, this story truly belongs to Elio, and we are all just passengers along for the ride.
Oliver and professor Perlman are perfect foils to Elio's development - a safe cocoon in which to experience love, making choices which last a lifetime, even as the temporary rite of passage floats away on the departing summer breezes.
Call Me By Your Name is a timeless love story. The trick of all this beauty is that you don't really know just how wonderful it is until the credits roll.