Auruba Raki
Looking for a lovely movie for the Pride Month? Call Me by Your Name is just the coming-of-age drama you need.
It follows the story of the precocious seventeen-year-old Elio and his father’s assistant, a twenty four-year-old grad student Oliver who stays over with Elio’s family to help his father with academic paperwork. An unexpected romance blooms between these two as they go for swims, walks, and trips around town in the summer of 1983, Italy.
The movie is based on the book of the same name by André Aciman.
Elio spends his summer vacation contentedly playing piano, cycling and hanging out with his childhood friend, Marzia. While he enjoys more time with himself, he begins to try to attract Oliver’s attention in an attempt to impress him, be it with his piano/guitar skills or his knowledge of the Battle of Piave.
Even as the latter initially hides his own feelings, gradually they bond over their emerging sexuality, Jewish heritage and Italy’s alluring landscape. It feels as though the story were set in an Italian summer that has no end, spiced up by the sophisticated sensuality of Armie Hammer as Oliver and Timothée Chalamet as Elio.
The romantic drama imbues emotions, attraction, hedonism, and acceptance in perfect proportions — emotions that drip from Elio and Oliver’s exploring their sexuality; attraction that is irresistible; hedonism as they pursue a romance both know won’t last by the end of summer, which would also draw the end of bliss when Oliver would have to return; and a heart-warming acceptance as Elio’s parents regard his homosexual interests with praiseworthy mellowness.
The ending, albeit melancholic, instills a blue satisfaction in the viewer’s heart and is bound to make you smile — the kind of smile you get when you’re glum and contented at the same time.
The movie’s excellent screenplay by James Ivory deservedly merits the Academy Award for Best Writing Adapted Screenplay, since it splendidly captures the essence of Aciman’s writing.
CW: Nudity, sex scenes
Reviewer’s rating: 4.8/5
The reviewer is a part of the TDA Editorial Team.