Call Me by Your Name

Sony Pictures Classics

4.5/5 stars

Luca Guadagnino's ( I am Love,  A Bigger Splash) film Call Me by Your Name is a love story that isn't too common anymore; it's intimate without being explicit, sexy but not pornographic, and obsessed in equal measure with tiny details as well as grand romantic gestures. As a result, the film's story and characters achieve a timeless quality that will cause it to live on long after other, similar stories are long forgotten.

The film follows 17-year-old Elio (Timothee Chalamet) who is spending his summer in Italy with his family, when his vacation is complicated by the arrival of impossibly handsome doctoral student Oliver (Armie Hammer) who's staying with Elio's father while working on a book. As he spends more time with Oliver, Elio begins feeling a strong attraction for the young man; an attraction that eventually turns into romance.

Under Guadagnino's direction, the film is filled with a kind of quiet sensuality, with nearly every shot creating either an intense sense of longing or intimacy between the protagonists. Although it meanders a bit too much in the middle,  Call Me by Your Name has enough beautiful photography and wonderful, natural performances to make one of the most affecting love stories in years. — Forest Taylor

Directed by: Luca Guadagnino // Written by: James Ivory (based on the novel by Andre Aciman) // Starring: Timothee Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel, Victorie Du Bois and Vanda Capriolo // 132 minutes