Call Me By Your Name

[Something Spanish]

SPOILERS

 Call Me By Your Name knocked me the fuck out, out of nowhere.

wanted to feel this, yet ended up more like this:

didnt love this but expectations were fairly high.  still, i’d like to think i can meet a film on its terms and i felt this was a chore to sit through for most of its running time.  the last twenty minutes or so is pretty lovely but in a way that wasnt necessarily earned by what preceded it.

pretty overrated.

but oddly still kinda feel this:

I can't wait to watch it again. Failing to grasp it totally again.

[jenkins]

[Something Spanish]

SPOILERS



I think the problem for me is that the film has a lot of lulls in the middle, these begin shortly after Elio and Oliver first fool around by the lake - it feels like a long time until their next interaction with Oliver ignoring him and Elio losing his virginity to Marizia, then the guys schedule a midnight rendezvous with Elio slowly counting down the hours and all that stuff was pretty boring.

Upon further contemplation, I did like most of the movie. It felt different from the same ole Hollywood romances, but the pacing had me spacing out after being so jazzed about the first hour. The whole lead up to the guys' first physical encounter was great, after that only intermittently so. Still, those performances, the setting, the music, all fantastic (Luca, too). Overall I'd say 3-Stars.

[Drenk]

SPOILERS

That pacing is one of the reasons why I love the movie. To me, like I tried to say previously, I don't really care about the plot of this movie since everything is pretty clear since the beginning. All the spaces between/during/after the events are what gave it a lot of life for me—and when you have those performances, too...

All the scenes with the watch: I find them pretty spectacular. Waiting is such an important part of infatuation.

[lorenscope]

I've finally watched it. Feels like a breath of fresh air.

[jenkins]

what happened between me and Luca Guadagnino in Call Me by Your Name is what i was open to let happen between me and Denis Villeneuve in Blade Runner 2049. but even when you're open there's still the chemical reaction, and i didn't chemically react to BR2049 but i did to Call Me by Your Name. so i should go back and rewatch I Am Love while i'm at it.

um rich people and culture is this thing for me that i'm working on overcoming. because if you let it happen, the guiding principle isn't money but art. that can happen--in Europe more often (rumor). the narrative here is thin and the movie is pure sensuality, revolving around the concept of art aesthetics which are even mentioned in a literary sense. it's about meaning more than aesthetics while being aesthetic, it's about what aesthetics can mean.

it's pure emotion and pete didn't spoil about the ending. the ending overall closes a predictable narrative. again, it's about more than the narrative. it's about how the narrative feels. and the certain principle i have to apply toward liking this movie affects me as a person from a richer and more vulnerable principle than that which i applied to mother! and BR2049.

therefore by verifiable principle this has to be one of my favorite movies of the year or else, what i'm saying is, if i didn't say it's one of my favorite movies of the year i'd be lying to myself.

[pete]

yeah I don't know why saying "the ending knocked me the fuck out" constitutes as spoiler.

[jenkins]

<3. when he says the thing about being cheesy and his faith and Xavier Dolan. "We got a whole new wave. We're gonna be good. We're gonna be fine. We're gonna be good."

[Kal]

Did you guys know they're making a sequel for this???? 

I guess this is now confirmed. I don't understand why, but I'm curious to see what they come up with...

[©brad]

Pete and Ghostboy nailed it. Sensual is one of those words overused to the point of meaninglessness, and yet it's so apt here. I could taste the food they were eating, and feel the white sun-baked sheets in Elio's bed when he was alone pining for Oliver. And as Pete said, what struck me most wasn't just Timothee Chalamet owning every frame he's in (and boy does he), but everything that surrounded him. Guadagnino lets every scene breathe, and in doing so allows humanity in. I saw so much PTA in this, didn't you? So many great small moments that are easy to miss, like when Ollie goes for ice in the freezer and finds frozen meat instead. He leaves in a huff but doesn't close the door fully, leaving his grandma to do it for him. I love that shit. Or when Ollie calls his mom for a ride home from the train station, and they share a quiet car ride home. That wrecked me.

I think what some feel as a lull in the middle was necessary. Like where the fuck did Oliver go, I thought, but I was so tapped into Elio's world, and being in love is being alone, so when we see him again, it's magic.

I loved this, and not just because I want to go to Italy and eat fancy breakfasts outside and fuck a teacher and fall in love during a summer and be 17 again. Mainstream gay movies often beat the same 'coming out' drum, but there's no big agenda here. This is an honest and raw love story you revel in, much like Phantom Thread.

 

[jenkins]

i think the dad's perspective could've played a larger role in a different type of movie, but for this type of movie i think his perspective was well placed. what i think you mean is you would've preferred a movie of larger ideas. Aciman himself has expanded with Enigma Variations, although it'll be CMBYN2 that's the movie follow up. we'll have to wait to see what expanded concepts will play out like in the sequel, and if it'll make us miss the first or not.