Has Anyone Seen "Call Me by Your Name"?

fountainhall

Re: Has Anyone Seen "Call Me by Your Name"?

Post by fountainhall »

Like Trongpai I watched the movie yesterday at an afternoon showing at Bangkok’s RCA. I was surprised that it is still playing 5 shows a day more than two weeks after its opening. Cinema 1 was only about a third full, mostly Thais, many of them girls, and we had no difficulty getting tickets just before it started. A point to note. Mercifully, unlike most other cinemas the RCA does not run 25 minutes of ads and promos before the featured movie actually starts. So make sure you get there on time. As Trongpai points out, the RCA is not easy to reach. We took the MRT to Petchaburi station and a taxi from there.

I went with an open mind, aware that most critics have thrown praise at the movie, some even suggesting it is a cert for Oscar nominations for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor for Timothée Chalamet who brilliantly plays 17-year old Elio, and aware that comments above suggest some posters did not enjoy it.

For the first ten minutes or so, I was inclined to side with our colleagues. Set in a villa in northern Italy during the especially long hot summer of 1983, little seems to be happening. Too hot to do little more than eat meals on the terrace, sunbathe and swim in a pool or a lake. Not even the arrival of tall, handsome Oliver as a slightly older research student to assist Elio’s professor father’s work in classical antiquity does much to spark more than the usual “Isn’t he handsome?” comments from some of the girls Elio keeps company with. Underneath the surface, though, Elio’s hormones slowly flip into overdrive. The touching, the looks, the too apparent disinterest on Elio’s part tell us something will happen. Elio’s growing infatuation is a long time in coming but when it does, it blossoms into outright passion.

In a way, this restraint with a simmering sensual undertone kept reminding me of the Merchant/Ivory classic “Remains of the Day”. Ironically its director James Ivory wrote the script for “Call Me By My Name” and was originally slated as the director. There are occasional glimpses of nudity but none of the front of male bodies. I read an interesting article that Ivory wanted some frontal nudity but the director felt it was not necessary for the telling of the story. I was certainly not aware of any censor cuts.

I loved the atmosphere captured by the director’s long static shots, only occasionally interwoven with faster hand-held camera shots. I was slightly surprised that Elio’s father seemed to be encouraging the affair, and again surprised at his much-praised monologue near the end encouraging his son to embrace such fleeting moments, despite the pain that inevitably follows. And then as winter has arrived the most exquisite shot of all. After a final phone call from Oliver, Elio stares into the roaring kitchen fire. The camera then remains fixed tightly on his face for at least two full minutes or more. That face reveals the raw emotion of the agony and torment Elio is experiencing with just a tinge of the joy his father had earlier referred to. If only for that one scene Chalamet must be a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination. He already has the Golden Globe nomination in the bag.
fountainhall

Re: Has Anyone Seen "Call Me by Your Name"?

Post by fountainhall »

Interesting that this movie is still playing in Bangkok. There are now only two daily showings at the RCA but it is also screening at three Paragon cinemas and a couple of others.
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Re: Has Anyone Seen "Call Me by Your Name"?

Post by Smiles »

Still playing! Just might be an excellent excuse to go up to Bangkok for a couple of days. The Man gives any movie which isn't 85% action a huge thumbs down. What a philistine!
Cheers ... ( and just one more reason why I love living in Thailand )

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fountainhall

Re: Has Anyone Seen "Call Me by Your Name"?

Post by fountainhall »

If it’s action you’re after, I reckon you’d better give this movie a miss. The plot develops slowly and the direction matches it.
windwalker

Re: Has Anyone Seen "Call Me by Your Name"?

Post by windwalker »

Two friends did see Call Me by Your Name. One loved it and the other hated it.
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Re: Has Anyone Seen "Call Me by Your Name"?

Post by Dodger »

I haven't had the pleasure of seeing Call Me by Your Name yet but know I will love it.

I'm a romantic at heart and just from the commercials I've seen Timothée Chalamet (Elio) seems to be perfectly cast for his role...and what a doll.

It's great to finally see a good gay love story. Brokback Mountain made a desperate attempt at this but fell way short in my opinion.

Can't wait to see it.
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Re: Has Anyone Seen "Call Me by Your Name"?

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Waiting for your review, Dodger.
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Re: Has Anyone Seen "Call Me by Your Name"?

Post by Smiles »

fountainhall wrote:If it’s action you’re after, I reckon you’d better give this movie a miss. The plot develops slowly and the direction matches it.
Yes, well I meant my 'Old Man' when I wrote 'The Man'.
He's the action lover, not me. Strangely, I assumed that was obvious.
Cheers ... ( and just one more reason why I love living in Thailand )

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fountainhall

Re: Has Anyone Seen "Call Me by Your Name"?

Post by fountainhall »

Yes, it was obvious! My reference to "you" was meant to be the collective "you" - hence my comment. Sorry it was not clear.
thaiworthy

Re: Has Anyone Seen "Call Me by Your Name"?

Post by thaiworthy »

I watched “Call Me By Your Name” several nights ago. There were 3 things I especially liked about it. It has a great title, great title theme song, and a nice little speech by the father near the end of the story. If you can call it a story. If you have not seen this film, but intend to, do not read any further.

Unfortunately, this is all that is outstanding about it, the rest is a banal, lifeless “boy meets boy” string of casual events. There is no story, there are no characters. And that’s because there is no dialog. No real dialog, because that is the only way to define characters. It is chit-chat. The actors, if you can call them actors, deliver their lines as if they were reciting them, not really meaning them. The plot, if you can call it a plot, is just a dangling mess of scenes. Some start abruptly and end abruptly just when they just seem to be going somewhere. There isn’t even a sub-plot. They are black holes of plots from which all imagination escapes.

The first agonizing hour is a collection of eating at a table with polite conversation one minute, followed by bicycling, drinking, swimming, more eating, then more conversations about when they’re eating next. “See you at dinnertime." and "When’s lunch?” or some such trivial chatter.

I do not even see how the characters could possibly be attracted to one another in a meaningful way. Their interaction is a collection of quips and cute, choppy lines meant to explore the “intentions” of the other. Or should I say “sexual tensions,” because that’s all there is between them.

This isn’t even a gay film. Both our heroes are robust bisexuals. The character of Elio is nothing more than a sexually frustrated teenager with a bad case of ants in the pants. There is one scene of him laying in bed, fucking a peach. A peach? Do we think the entire orchard can satisfy him? No, not a chance. Girls are so out-of-fashion for this young man.

I think all the excitement connected with this film centers around the youthful body of Elio and his musical talents, a combination for sure to make hearts all-a-flutter at the box office and in the eyes of some reviewers. Be that as it may, just swap out heterosexual roles for the gay ones and see what you come up with.

“Call Me By Your Name” is a long way down from “The Squaw Man.”



The Squaw Man is a 1918 American Western film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. It is a remake of DeMille's 1914 film of the same name, which is based upon a 1905 play by Edwin Milton Royle. The film was reportedly made as an experiment to prove DeMille's theory that a good film is based on a good story.
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