Pure cinematic joy

Rating: 9/10 (6 March 2018)

True cinema is about immersion. And from the very first minute of this exquisitely shot and performed film, I was transported from the cinema to Italy. It wasn't just the mise-en-scene and the cinematography, as good as they were, but the sound. All those background noises; the chatter, the scratchy vinyl music at the disco, the loud silences between lines of dialogue. I loved that attention to detail.
Then we come to the story itself. The script's genius is in its simplicity. The way it encroaches on you. There's no buy in required, no big dramatic moments. It's pure craft.
I've read the script. Scripts are to be performed, so its worthy Oscar win for Best Adapted Screenplay is a tribute to the actors and director Luca Guadagnino as much as writer James Ivory, for in other hands it wouldn't have come off as good, and we would have been left without a gem of a film. I can't tell you how much I admire the actors for their note-perfect deliveries. Chalamet is a star.
Achingly beautiful, searingly emotive, disarmingly subtle. Outstanding. 9.5/10.