Last year, my partner and I saw an Off-Broadway play called
Prodigal Son, by John Patrick Shanley of
Doubt and
Moonstruck fame. I went in knowing very little about it, only that its featured stars were Robert Sean Leonard, who I'd recognized from
House and
Dead Poets Society, and a young actor named Timothée Chalamet, who I knew nothing about.
We sat in the third row from the stage, center seats at the Manhattan Theatre Club, and for the next hour and a half, we were floored by the boundless energy and constant dialogue flowing from young Chalamet's mouth.
How did he memorize all of this, I remember thinking, and
how is this kid putting on such a powerful performance at his age, barely 20 years old?
My review of Prodigal Son: http://bit.ly/2zM93dI
And so I did what I always do: I looked Timothée up after the show. What else has he done, and what is he planning next, I wanted to know. That's when
Call Me by Your Name first arrived on my radar, a faint flicker of light in the sky I knew I needed to investigate. With Timothée starring in the lead role, I immediately went to Amazon and bought the book, written a decade earlier by André Aciman.
I devoured it, and with each new page, I grew more and more curious about the movie. With such beautiful source material, surely it was impossible to ruin it, though I've seen that happen too many times before. Even so, I kept an open mind, and began following all the updates from the movie as it began screening at film festivals around the world. To my delight, theatergoers were praising it left and right, and each one singled out Timothée Chalamet for his incredible work in the film, something that didn't surprise me at all after
Prodigal Son.
Needless to say, my expectations for the movie were quite high, and though I had every hope and intention of enjoying it when I finally saw it last night,
nothing could have prepared me for just how amazing it was. I mean this quite honestly: I was floored.
The filmmakers, Director Luca Guadagnino leading the effort, made the very best choices in all the most important moments throughout the film. The music, hinted at softly like the relationship itself, comes and goes at first with a tease. The camera angles and staging choices were as surprising as they were perfect. And the acting itself? Effortless.
At no point did I feel like I was watching a movie, but always felt as if I was
experiencing it. The birds chirped around me in the theater, the music stole me away through time and space, and the warm Italian countryside quickly made the frigid New York winter a distant memory. I was invited into the lives of the main characters, and generously provided a front-row seat to all their most intimate moments. The hypnotizing music, the lazy summer pace of the storytelling, and the many subtle movements of the camera lulled me into awe.
And Timothée Chalamet? He is nothing short of perfection in this film, and I was so impressed by his equal turns toward quiet stillness and nervous action throughout. Only twenty years old when they filmed the movie, Timothée captures the bridge between adolescence and adulthood better than I've ever seen it done before. You'll get to see him play the guitar and the piano in the film, as well as speak several languages, but at no point does he do so with aplomb. Rather, young Elio is a fragile young man on the cusp of a life-changing summer, and you'll feel it in his every gesture, witness it in every little change across his face.
Call Me by Your Name is, on the surface, a gay romance, but to judge it based on this pithy phrase alone is to demean not just the story but the incredibly talented cast and crew who brought the film to life. Critic after critic have labeled it a masterpiece, and I can see why. It isn't just a movie, but a work of art. It's a play, really, and filled with powerful moments throughout.
Go see it now, and see why it's been nominated for three Golden Globes (Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Film of the Year), and why it has already won so many accolades and prizes this awards season. It's still rolling out in theaters nationwide, so if it hasn't arrived to your local movie theater yet, it should very soon. And it will be worth the wait.
-Sean