Call Me by Your Name – When I saw Call Me by Your Name, it’s as if I spent a sensual summer in 1983 in a villa in Northern Italy with a 17-year-old gifted musician, Elio, played by Timothée Chalamet. His family hosts a 
graduate student each summer, an intern to work with his father, played by Michael Stuhlbarg, a professor of Greco-Roman culture and statuary. Armie Hammer is Oliver, the 24-year-old American graduate student, who with his golden good looks, resembles the subject matter he and the professor are researching. Elio and Oliver catch each other’s eyes, and a slow circling of each other begins as their attraction and curiosity compels them as they become lovers. The story unfolds slowly, like the summer season it depicts, hot days and warm nights, with Elio and Oliver, riding bikes in the countryside, swimming and dancing, and sharing savory and sweet meals with the family and their friends. The film is very much like savoring a good meal, tasting the ripening fruit in the orchard, a sensual bite of life. This is the third film in the trilogy by director, Luca Guadagnino. The first film, I Am Love, was followed by The Bigger Splash. James Ivory wrote the screenplay and Sufjan Stevens the music which perfectly underscores a summer that culminates in love. This is one of the most romantic films I’ve ever seen. Timothée Chalamet is an actor to watch. His ability to “show not tell” in his expressions was breathtaking, and the conversation initiated by his father is a life-affirming message in this current culture of intolerance and hate.
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Featured photo by: Franz Richter