Review of Call Me by Your Name (2017) by Greg C — 21 Jan 2018

In the tradition of movies recounting that one great summer or that one year of high school that changed someone's life, Call Me By Your Name takes its place and may suffer for it. Armie Hammer's Oliver appears to float through this world seemingly devoid of self-consciousness.

He is not so much a person as a manifestation of some James Ivory fever dream or fantasy. In this coming of age tale, Timothée Chalamet's lead character of Elio is played in a very modern naturalistic style.

This plus the languid direction leaves the film with a few ticks and quirks. Character behaviors change radically without compensating dialogue. In short, after 15 minutes of people simply entering, staring around and exiting spaces, I lose track of what they are thinking.

Given the roiling emotional undercurrents taking place as time passes by in the Italian villa location, the winner of a performance is that of Michael Stuhlbarg as the coolest dad ever. If you want a more mature romance in an Italian summer go find Katherine Hepburn's Summertime.

I am sure that there must be better gay coming of age movies. This one doesn't have the punch of a Brokeback Mountain. After all of the film circuit buzz, I wanted to be emotionally wrecked by this one, but ultimately I wasn't.

[SPOILER] I'll give it this. It is the best Italian summertime movie in which a boy bangs a hot girl, Armie Hammer and a nectarine. This one is seriously artsy.