Call Me By Your Name and I’ll Call You by Mine

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                                                                        By Tom Pacak
              One movie that moved me is Call Me By Your Name. For a year, the film has been a hit at most film festivals. Critics and audiences alike have been praising the recent LGBTQ movie. Respected writer James Ivory just won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
            Set in Northern Italy in the summer of 1983; the location is very dream like and makes you want to fall in love. Elio Perlman (Timothee Chalamet) is a teen that is very intelligent, gifted at playing music, and a real keeper with the ladies. He even has a casual on and off girlfriend relationship with Marzia (Esther Garrel), a French teen who is up in Italy studying as well. Things heat up when Elio’s father (Michael Stuhlbarg) brings a grad student named Oliver (Armie Hammer) to help him do research. Immediately, Elio has a crush on Oliver. Elio tries to brush off his crush by acting annoyed at how confident Oliver is and how good-looking he is.
            After a while, the men begin to dance around at local clubs and ride bikes around Crema. Both deny the attraction that their bodies have for each other. Like the characters, director Luca Guadagnino (remember the name) lets the men explore what their hearts desire. The beginning of their romance is an important scene when they’re both sitting under a tree and share a kiss. Oliver at first doesn’t want the thing to get out of control. After sharing the experience, he tells Elio, “We have nothing to be ashamed of.” Suddenly, Oliver and Elio start playing mind games with each to see if their love for each other is real by flirting with other girls and avoiding each other’s presence.
            Let me tell you, the audience will immediately know where Elio’s heart is during the sex scenes. Elio has casual sex with his French girlfriend, and then when he gets to Oliver he’s very cautious on how to approach the experience. An experience he wants to cherish so Elio is careful to avoid screw-ups. Oliver tells Elio during the scene, “Call me by your name and I’ll call you by mine” letting the characters finally embrace their feelings to each other.
            Finding the adjectives to describe the performances is almost impossible. Incredible, tremendous, marvelous, flawless, etc. the list goes on. Timothee Chalamet gives the best breakout performance and in my opinion, the best performance of the year. Chalamet really lets you see how confusion runs in the mind of one who is in love and insecure about his sexual desires. And wait till you see what he does to a peach. Armie Hammer (so great in The Social Network) gives his best and most complex performance to date as a man embracing love and attention. And be prepared to get wrecked by the underrated Michael Stuhlbarg as Elio’s father. In a movie with several great scenes, the one with Elio’s father is the cherry on top. Stuhlbarg, gives a very empathetic and heartfelt speech to his son on how to follow his heart and not forget the pain he feels. I can’t wait to study his monologue when the film is released on DVD. It’s a master class in acting.
            Call Me By Your Name is the recent LGBTQ film to be added in the collection of great films such as Brokeback Mountain, Carol, and Best Picture winner Moonlight. What sets this film different from these masterpieces is that it wants us to explore what we want in romance and to take risks. The film makes you fall in love with the magic of cinema and the rare people who know how to make phenomenal movies.

Note: Call Me By Your Name will be released on Bluray and Demand tomorrow March 13th.
             
4 stars out of 4
By Tom Pacak 

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