Call Me By Your Name ⭐⭐⭐½

Set in 1983 somewhere in Northern Italy, 17-year-old Elio, a musical student and the son of an American archeology professor and his French wife, spends his summer in a postcard worthy house, smoking and drinking with his friends and flirting with the local Italian girls. When Oliver, a handsome 20-something American intern arrives to help Elio’s father, the two strike up more than a friendship in this beautiful, seductive film full of unspeakable longings, furtive glances and slow burning desires. Luca Guadagnino’s film is delicate and pristine to look at and often his camera does nothing but sits there capturing the action as it unfolds organically. His pacing is unhurried and his use of music and Sufjan Stevens’ songs effectively heightens the emotive drama bubbling just beneath James Ivory’s screenplay that leans definitely towards the artistic side, subtly teasing out a simple yet tender romance. However, its treatment of the central relationship is so polite and tasteful, I end up feeling cold and dispassionate about the film. Timothee Chalamet who plays Elio is natural and charismatic (and a linguist to boot) and proves to be an emerging talent but I am less convinced by Armie Hammer’s Oliver who is mostly an enigmatic object of desire. But it is Michael Stuhlberg as Elio’s father who steals the film with a moving, Oscar worthy performance in an elegantly written and heartfelt scene towards the end. Despite all the 5-star praises this film has landed, I thought it is on par with the recent God’s Own Country and if I must choose, I probably prefer the passion in that film just a titch more than this one.