Calll Me By Your Name 2017

     This film is based on a novel by Andre Aciman.  The setting is the summer of 1983 in northern Italy.  Elio Perlman is staying with his family at their summer home.  It is a 17^th century Italian villa.  Elio transcribes and plays classical music, plays the piano and guitar, reads, and flirts with his friend Marzia.  His father is an eminent professor specializing in Greco-Roman culture.  His mother Annella is a translator.  Oliver is a 24-year-old American college summer graduate student.   Oliver is working on his doctorate and he arrives to help Elio’s father as an intern.  Elio and Oliver seem to have little in common?  Elio resents giving up his bedroom and he’s seriously dedicated to his summer pursuits.  Oliver's personality is carefree and exuberant.

     The scenery of this area is very beautiful and despite his reservations, Elio and Oliver begin to swim, go for long walks into town and they accompany Elio’s father on an archaeological trip.  Elio and Oliver go through periods of distance alternating with closeness.  Elio’s parents recommend they visit Bergamo before Oliver returns to the United States.  The next time they converse is by phone during Hanukkah when Oliver tells Elio he is engaged and to be married in about six months.  It’s wonderful that Elio and Oliver form a friendship but I wonder if the depth of their relationship is too stressful for Elio?  Is he feeling the loss and separation from Oliver much more than is being reciprocated?  His parents are more progressive than a LOT of other parents.  I can’t speak to the social mores in Italy?  3* (This movie is OK)

132 min, Drama directed by Luca Guadagnino with Armie Hammer, Timothee Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel, Victoire Du Bois, Vanda Capriolo, Antonio Rimoldi, Elena Bucci, Marco Sgrosso, Andre Aciman, Peter Spears. 

Note:  Imdb 8 out of 10, 95% critic 85% audience, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 862 reviews, Roger Ebert 4*, Metacritic 93 out of 100 with 51 critics 7.8 out of 10 with 734 reviews, Common Sense 4* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Cremona, Bergamo, Brescia, Parco Regionale del Serio, Lodi, Lombardy, Italy.  Chalmet learned to speak Italian and play the classical piano pieces.  Hammer stated that the most uncomfortable scenes for him were the dance scenes.  There was a ten-minute standing ovation and the longest ever at the New York Film Festival.  In the book, Elio is 17 years old and Oliver is 24.  Chalamet was 20 and Hammer was 29 during filming.  The age of consent in Italy is 14.  The director Guadagnino has planned from the beginning for at least one sequel.