So I went to a screening of Call me be your name with a new wig, after Thor: Ragnarok sent my last one into Asgard. Only to have it snatched and thrown to some remote village in Italy in the 80s by Luca Guadagnino's Call me by your name.
I'd first heard about Call me by your name back in 2016. Information of when the film was released and if it would ever be, were vague. But I was intrigued. Even if much of the story and what it was about was completely overshadowed by one of the characters at some point shoving their willy in a peach.
But I had no real expectations of Call me by your name. I'd never seen any of Guadagnino's works before and had never seen Armie Hammer in...well...anything. All I was going on was everybody saying how good the book was and the trailer for the film which seemed pretty quirky. It was also nice to have a break from big budget Hollywood movies.
Call me by your name will undoubtedly be categorised as a gay love story, but for me, it's more of a coming of age story. Despite Armie Hammer being more of the poster boy for this film, the film actually centres completely on Timothée Chalamet's character Elio. A young man with a carefree, but routine and structured life. Intellectual and knowledgeable of the world, yet so naive to it at the same time.
The story takes us on a journey of Elio's discovery of love. Not just with another man, but a girl too. Elio not knowing where to ultimately place his feelings puts him at odds, as it's the one thing he's able to truly make sense of or compartmentalise. He knows he likes Armie 'Oliver' Hammer. But he knows he likes this girl too. But he also knows that anything he feels for Oliver can only be temporary, as he's only around for the Summer holidays and then he'll be off, never to be seen again. But as is the way with love, it's not that simple and Elio sets his heart up to inevitably get it broken. For a young man like Elio who is used to having a form of discipline and being able to make sense of things; love, lust and desire messes with his head and we get to see it play out in whimsical, beautiful, humorous, joyous and heartbreaking ways. There are many lessons that Elio learns over the course of his whirlwind Summer romances. But one of them is the realisation that sometimes it can take having your heart broken for you to truly make sense of anything.
The way that Elio and Oliver's love story unfolds in this film is pretty slow, but you know its coming. Love is shown in it's many forms in this film. It presents a stark contrast to both Elio and Oliver's lives. Two control freaks who are used to being able to shape things how they see fit within their lives. And yet, they can't make full sense of the love that they feel for one another and struggle on just what what it means to be in love. Uncertain at times whether what they feel for one another is love at all, or just lust.
There is no point in this story where things are 'cool' or 'okay'. If these characters aren't trying to figure out how to love each other, then they're scared of the impending end which will strike when Oliver has to leave. This is not a story with a happy ending and the credit sequence of this film will fuck you up. I was sat in my car for a good 10 minutes staring the steering wheel processing it all until I could muster the will to drive back home. It was crushing.
What makes the story in Call me by your name so compelling is that it's completely centred around a young man who doesn't have it all figured and doesn't have all of his shit together. I mean, firstly, he's a teenager. But he's just meandering through life. And then here comes this guy sauntering into his home, his bed room, his life, and everything is turned on his head.
A notable aspect of this story is that the only friction Oliver and Elio face is that of each other. Queer stories of love are love are often set within a storm of turmoil and oppressors, whether these take the form of the nearest and dearest or wider circles of society. Here, its not the case. The word 'gay' is not uttered once in this film. Elio's parents don't chastise their child for falling for a guy. They just allow him to embark on his own journey of discovery. Elio's parents continually give their son the courage to just be who he is. They never tell him what he should or shouldn't do. They only seek to create a world where he can be accepting of who he is. Elio's parents support all comes to a head in the final moments of the film, with his mother picking him up from the train station at the moment his heart completely breaks. His father also has some carefully chosen words for Elio, which presents one of the most heartfelt and powerful moments in a film which is littered with such. Elio's parents are pretty much perfect in this film and are a paragon of how to accept your child's life choices. Yes, it's over-glossed and its definitely a best case scenario and less of a general ideal. But none the less, it's nice that the lack of intrusion from Elio's parents helps lay the focus on Elio trying to navigate love. And not having to steal kisses, dick sucks, back blow outs in fear that his father will try to beat the gay out of him with a belt.
The sensuality between Elio and Oliver is beautifully handled. Armie and Timotee have a great chemistry on-screen which makes their passion for each other all the more believable. The age difference takes a while to normalise itself and for some it may not. But I was invested in the two of them the whole entire time. Their performances together are electric.
Call me by your name isn't going to be to everyone's tastes. But if you're not adverse to watching two men kiss on screen and you're only movie interests are superhero movies, then there's a greta film to be enjoyed here. It's heartfelt, funny, beautifully shot and provides as much of an escape as any Justice league or Marvel movie.
Verdict: Watch dis.