"To make yourself feel nothing, so as not to feel anything- what a waste."

Call Me By Your Name paints such a brutally honest and devastating portrait of the spark of a relationship that maybe could never last, and how the smoke can still linger from that fire for a long, long time. A gorgeously shot and composed film with an ethereal soundtrack and two amazing lead performances.

What a beautiful story, it isn’t my favorite film of all time but I have a very difficult time picking a film that has caused me to feel and think so profoundly about relationships and love and making the most out of the time we have with the ones we fall for. I’m throwing this film in the hat for greatest coming of age romance of all time. I love the setting, and I love the exploration of the culture in Italy around sexuality and familial trust generally seeming much more lax and easy going about intimacy than where I’m from. 

Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet bring this romance to life and Michael Stuhlbarg gives what I believe is one of the most touching and profound monologues in any film I’ve seen. 

Luca does amazing directorial work, and the cinematography is deeply intimate and personal while also showcasing the beautiful nature of a summer in Italy. The film looks gorgeous. The music that was picked for the soundtrack is great, I even bought the record and I listen to the opening track and the Sufjan Stevens cuts frequently, along with the great Psychadelic Furs song. 

There is nothing bad I can say about this film, it’s touching, heartfelt, and so full of this youthful curiosity and self discovery that speaks a lot to me as a person recently out of high school trying to find my way. The screenplay is poignant and from the excerpts of the book that I’ve read, they stayed pretty close to the source material, even having the father’s monologue transcribed word for word from the novel into the script. 

Gorgeous movie, lovely story, performances that are hauntingly good, and in general it’s just put together impeccably.