CALL ME BY YOUR NAME(15)

D: Luca Guadagnino

Sony Picture Classics/Frenesy/La Cinéfacture/Water's End/RT/MYRA (Peter Spears, Luca Guadaganino, Emilie Georges, Rodrigo Teixeira, Marco Morabito, James Ivory & Howard Rosenman)

USA/Italy/France/Brazil 🇺🇸 🇮🇹 🇫🇷 🇧🇷 2017

132 mins

Drama

W: James Ivory [based on the novel by Andre Aciman]

DP: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom

Ed: Walter Fasano

Mus: Sufjan Stevens

Timothée Chalamet (Elio Perlman), Armie Hammer (Oliver), Michael Stuhlbarg (Mr. Perlman), Amira Casar (Annella Perlman), Esther Garrel (Marzia)

Despite being one of the most critically-lauded films of 2017, Call Me By Your Name was also met with much controversy, albeit for the wrong reasons by many people who haven't seen the film and quite possibly refuse to.

This coming-of-age drama focuses on a gay relationship which blossoms between 17-year-old Elio Perlman and a 24 year old university graduate in the rural settings of Northern Italy during the early 1980's.

Claims that the film and its story promote pedophilia are completely unsubstantiated, primarily because its the younger of the two men who initiates the seduction, and also because the age gap is no different from that in a film about a lesbian romance (2015's Carol) or even a straight one (1987's Dirty Dancing). It also has to be said that the romance is very tastefully done, with the message of the film presented that the first love of a gay person can be just as confusing, intense and heartbreaking as a straight relationship.

Personally, I would have preferred a little more conflict in the story, other than the internal conflict between the two main characters who feel they have to keep their sexuality secret despite the chemistry between them, but the performances are very well handled, especially Timothée Chalamet with a breakthrough performance that was rightfully rewarded with an Oscar nomination.

For wrong reasons or otherwise, it's a divisive piece of filmmaking, but those who berate it really should watch it before judging.

7/10