Call Me by Your Name

To be honest, this film is nothing special. A summer Italian drama from the eighties, whose benefit is certainly the music, which makes this movie quite interesting. However, the acting is nothing unique. The premise of The Brokeback Mountain is set in the Italian countryside and highlighted by culture, historic buildings, beaches and first loves. Everything is good, I would just simply leave out the main plot. (01/26/2018)

If the whole film had ridden a similar easygoing wave as it did in its last third, it would have been a memorable experience for me. But unfortunately, the impressive conclusion is preceded by a very lengthy "prologue" that really made it hard to watch with its impressionistic, even poetic, nature. I have nothing to fault the cast, Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer had the necessary chemistry between them and I trusted them. But I'm a bit stumped as to how the film won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay – personally, I would have cut it by at least twenty minutes and added to the build-up of the plot. On the one hand, I understand the intention in terms of the gradual narrative and the birth of a fragile relationship between two people, but as a viewer I simply found it taxing in terms of holding my attention. The highlights for me were undoubtedly the scenes of Elio and Oliver's last days together and the final conversation between father and son. With this film, on the one hand, I understand all the fuss and positive reactions, which is why, on the other hand, it makes me all the more sorry that I can't join the enthusiastic fans and admirers of this piece of cinema. (P.S. Maybe I'll come back to the film after reading the book and reconsider everything!) (02/02/2019)

The performances of Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet have received all the honours, but the hero, and the main reason why Call Me by Your Name is one of the best films of the year, is the director, Luca Guadagnino. It’s amazing how he managed to capture the atmosphere of the place and the time where a story like this can happen. Summer in Lombardy, where everything is soaked in rich history, antiquity and the renaissance, the love for knowledge, the fascination for art, philosophy and beauty as such – of body and mind. That’s why the monologue of the father at the end makes sense and why it could be so non-conflicting. (12/25/2017)

This is a romantic film about two young men falling in love, one of who is a little younger. At first glance, it’s nothing revolutionary, but at second glance it’s a beautiful film about love, nature, people, and a time period. Everything here is captured so accurately, naturally, and sensitively that the entire time I was watching how simply beautiful a film can be. (01/28/2018)

A gentle story of one summer that hides a surprisingly strong added value thanks to its free atmosphere. Though at first it seemed a bit too artsy for a love story, from the moment an elusive feeling starts to emerge between the piano notes, Luca Guadagnino was effortlessly leading me on a hook. And however much some viewers may argue that two hours is too long for a story unfolding this casually, I would gladly welcome another two. I was so tense, afraid this delicate bond would break. (01/22/2018)