Review: 'Call Me by Your Name' Is a Rare Piece of Art

By Cameron Lee ‘20 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
It’s rare to find a film whose beauty matches its intelligence and its craftsmanship. Call Me by Your Name is one of only a handful of films this decade that achieves a perfect blend of heart, sensual beauty, and an outstanding use of structure and characters to create a beautiful tale of romance and longing that is mesmerizing from start to finish.
The basic story is simple; Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is a teenager living in his family’s Italian estate in the summer of 1983. His father (Michael Stuhlbarg) is an archeology professor who invites one of his students Oliver (Armie Hammer) to spend the summer with his family and to help him with his work. At first, Elio and Oliver show no interest in each other but as the Summer goes by they start to bond and eventually start to have feelings for one another.
Chalamet has already given us one great performance this year in Greta Gerwig’s amazing Lady Bird but his performance as Elio is simply phenomenal. Not only does he speak two different languages, English and Italian, but he also showcases a wide range of emotions and heartbreak that is way beyond his years. Hammer gives his best performance to date as Oliver; as does Michael Stuhlbarg who delivers a tear-jerker of a monologue very late into the film that will leave anyone with a soul feeling the desire to give it a standing ovation.
This story and the film itself should serve as a template of how to make a compelling romance that doesn’t rely on cliches or gender conformity. This is a pure expression of love and life that few films have been able to even comprehend. And that’s something to cherish for hopefully a very long time.
Overall Grade: A
Watch The Trailer:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9AYPxH5NTM[/embedyt]