Call Me By Your Name

Call Me By Your Name is a coming of age drama, based on the novel of the same name. It is the story of a young man who experiences falling in love for the first time. It’s set in 1980s Italy and follows Elio Perlman, a 17-year-old precocious, musical savant, living in Italy, and his father's 24-year-old American assistant, Oliver played by Armie Hammer. Elio is played by newcomer Timothée Chalamet.

At the latest Academy Awards, it won for Best Adapted Screenplay, and was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Chalamet) and Best Original Song. Because of these nominations I wanted to give this movie a shot. In the end, I don’t think it necessarily had the best screenplay. I appreciated the diverse plot-line and the tasteful presentation of the love affair, but it was slow moving. Toward the end it got more interesting but I was never fully captivated.

I did think that Timothée Chalamet did a nice job portraying the young Elio, figuring out who he was as a person and understanding his sexuality. I’m not a huge fan of Armie Hammer but I felt like he wasn't a distraction, neither tried to outdo the other; they worked well together. Additionally, the soundtrack was pretty good and appropriate for the time period. I also thought that the landscaping was vast, lush and beautiful. But, those qualities alone could not save this move. The movie wasn't terrible but for me it just was missing something to really bring me in and because of that I would not think about seeing it again.