2017’s Italian/English coming-of-age drama Call Me by Your Name directed by Luca Guadagnino is utterly mesmerising! Starring Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar and Esther Garrel, the story follows the relationship between 17-year-old Elio Perlman, and Oliver, a 24-year-old assistant to Elio's father.

Call Me by Your Name is a film my friend James recommend to me quite some time ago and now I can see why. There’s so much to love about the movie! The Italian setting is breathtaking, and the performances that, whilst inevitably impacting people in different ways, left me encapsulated throughout much of the runtime as both main characters where fantastic to watch, helped massively by the two brilliant performances from Timothie and Armie at its core. However, for me the soundtrack is what stunned me most of all as it’s easily one of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. The music in this movie is what I can only describe as beautiful with Sufjan's songs in particular, especially ‘Mysteries of Love’, standing out as they add to the atmosphere perfectly. 

Yet, for a first viewing, I wasn’t as taken back by the movie as I once thought I would be. Sure the emotional moments pay off well but they never fully struck me till the end and thus, for the majority of the runtime, each new “gut punch” felt rather mixed.

Nevertheless, I can’t disregard the fact that Call Me by Your Name is a brilliant movie. It’s a film of overwhelming empathy and playfulness as the loneliness between the two men turns into gratification as their desires are slowly manifested into reality. It’s certainly not the perfect movie many make it out to be, but director Luca Guadagnino brings a sense of realism to the project that, when mixed with the beautiful cinematography, tender acting and specificity to detail, will surely linger with me for days to come. 
2017 Releases Ranked