Gay indie for the masses

Rating: 3/10 (27 November 2018)

I genuinely had high expectations for this but it simply failed to meet the hype in my opinion. While visually Northern Italy is indeed stunning, the film was insufficient at capturing the typical 80's summer atmosphere across Italian countrysides. The backdrops felt forced rather than authentic and the interactions among locals were bizarre and unrealistic.
Main duo? Meh. There was very little chemistry or substantial character development, leading to the film's often disjointed, dry pace. Less is usually more, but in this case less was non-existent. Armie Hammer was a terrible cast; not a convincing actor in the slightest and far too mature looking to play a 24-year-old.
Again, I enjoy similar coming-of-age dramas, but this was more of a contrived, overly pretentious attempt to exploit another non-heterosexual narrative. The "artsy-ness" was in your face rather than organic.