Poignant truths, visual poetry fuel ‘Call Me by Your Name’
Timothée Chalamet (left) and Armie Hammer
Pristine yet occasionally gritty, Luca Guadagnino’s gay coming-of-age drama, “Call Me by Your Name,” sears with poignant truths, told through the entwining lives of two men who discover each other in their summer of love.
Based on the André Aciman novel, the ’80s-set film is a sensual and emotional sojourn that latches onto 17-year-old Elio’s (Timothée Chalamet) naiveté and sexual awakening in the idyllic northern Italian village that his family calls home.
Elio meets Oliver (Armie Hammer), 24, an American scholar who’s tasked with assisting his archaeologist father (Michael Stuhlbarg) for the summer. The handsome and sociable American is warmly welcomed by the locals, and easily piques the younger man’s curiosity.
Oliver is also drawn to the bilingual Elio, a musically gifted teen. But, while women are attracted to them, and vice versa—straight relationships are the “acceptable” norm at the time—are they willing to take the game-changing next step? And if so, how far are they willing to commit to it?
The film, penned by James Ivory, offers a look at the life-affirming reality of “summer” romances, but also reflects the joys and struggles of people identifying as gay or bisexual—or, even those who don’t identify yet with those labels, but are in such relationships, anyway.
It doesn’t always capture the grandeur or enigma of its chosen locales, but the film, nonetheless, thoughtfully explores significant moments.
The director specially demonstrates his competent storytelling ability when he
focuses on the characters’ nuances in artfully composed scenarios. He also has a pair of impassioned, intelligent actors in both Chalamet and Hammer.
Fresh-faced Chalamet makes the hormonally charged and emotionally open Elio empathetic and disarming. The 22-year-old actor takes charge of almost every scene he’s in, even when he’s just listening to his enabling dad’s heart-piercing insights. (Stuhlbarg is endearing and wonderfully puzzling, as well.)
Hammer, while not playing a character that’s as readable as his lover, is utterly charming as the carefree Oliver. Elio and Oliver’s story is energetically flavored by classic new wave and pop ditties, as well as by the contemporary music of singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens.
The visually poetic film, which begins its theatrical run in the Philippines tomorrow, brings to light a fairly common situation for both straight and gay relationships—is it just a short-lived thing, or will it be more than a fling?
“Call Me by Your Name” is differently moving than the dark and tragic “Brokeback Mountain,” but the truths and equivalent heartaches of gay love are there—you’ll nonetheless shed some tears for Elio and Oliver’s predicament.
