You were more me than I had ever been myself

Rating: 10/10 (1 April 2018)

Some movies are just magic. This is one of them. It is hard to explain why it can affect people so much, but one can try to list out the reasons one can think of.
Because it is created by a group of genius, including the writers (novel and screenplay), director, actors, musician, etc.
Because it is filmed in the beautiful city of Crema, Italy.
Because it depicts desire, one of the fundamental essence of human, so well.
Because it is about love is love is love, regardless of form or gender.
Because.
There is really no need to explain to be honest. If you watch it, you would love it.
Never has a movie touched me so deeply, in the soul, and left me speechless and lost in thoughts. After the first viewing, I read the book, watched the movie for the second time, listened to the audio book, read/watched countless essays/reviews/interviews about the movie, and now am preparing to read the script as well. I am still constantly in awe of the new details discovered from the book or the movie. The insights from the creators also help adding so many layers to the movie which I am excited to watch many more times.
Here are a few things I particularly love, among the overall unique infatuation I have with this piece of art:
While there is no doubt that the Perlmans depicted in the book is very warm and loving, the center theme of the book itself is still much focused on Elio and his coming-of-age discovery of himself. On the other hand, the director of the movie, Luca Guadagnino, made certain changes in the movie to better fit his description of the project - "This is a movie about a family, compassion, transmission of knowledge, of being better people because someone's otherness changes you," Guadagnino told The Guardian in 2017. For instance, some scenes originally only involved Elio and/or Oliver in the book, but Luca included the Perlmans parents as well which showed beautiful exchanges between the generations.
The movie is also all about intimacy, distance, and the chase and catch game between characters. It has the perfect depiction of a passionate relationship between two people from the beginning, and sadly to the end. Testing water in the beginning and wondering if the other person is indeed interested or everything is just a fantasy and projection of your own affections. One moment you are so close to each other, then separation can come disruptively just seconds later. The abrupt 'later' is a perfect example. We watch Elio and Oliver's friendship blossoms, and there are so many beautiful moments which just leave us more heartbroken than ever at the end (spoiler alert).
Let's also talk about the perfect casting. It is hard to believe that Luca found the perfect Elio and Oliver without any audition or reading. Armie Hammer had a more elaborated profile but no character was as emotionally demanding and vulnerable as Oliver. Timothée Chalamet was relatively new as a young star. Who would have known he could make Elio so alive and complex? Don't even get me started on the scenes where they demonstrated master class of acting, I can make a list. Just one example for each: the last night they spent together for Oliver, and the last scene with credits rolling for Elio. It is truly because of their generosity in sharing their heart and soul as the characters, the movie can be so heart touching and successful.
It is so obvious how much Elio and Oliver were in love even though they never said "I love you", not even once. The closest we got is the ambiguous "I love this", spoken by Elio to Oliver on Monet's berm. I am definitely not exaggerating when I say this is one of the most poetic movies I have ever watched.
I can only say this is truly a masterpiece and timeless and will be admired by generations. My deepest gratitude to André Aciman for the beautiful words he created, to Luca Guadagnino for his brilliant illustration on screen, and to all the actors for their authentic performances. This is going to be my favourite movie for years (or forever).