Oscar Race #4: Call Me By Your Name - Another Painfully Slow Beautiful Romance
.jpg)
I, again, will review another film that is way too slow. I spent half of the film yawning and the other half, picking out all the flaws this film has. It was so over-length and it felt like a day by day journal of what a summer in Italy is like. Oh but a twist? It's a romance between two males. What saddened me was that there were scenes that truly tugged on my heartstrings but so many other scenes that were just filler to make it more attractive on the outside. It's a beautiful love story, don't get me wrong. It just wasn't my ideal romance of the year.
Set in Northern Italy around the early 1980s, 17 year old Elio begins to form a romantic relationship with one of his father's graduate student, Oliver. Oliver has been invited to stay with the family at their summer home and ignites a passionate love affair with Elio. It's adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name. There's a real honesty in this story of first love and where that leads you. That's the beautiful emotional element that truly grasped my attention. Despite the long slow pacing of the film, it still has that deep and raw meaning of what love is. If there is one reason to go see this film, it is the acting of one particular person. It's Timothee Chalamet who is phenomenal in this film. This is his break-through film role and his acting was critically praised. Deserving all the attention, his performance will be remembered long after the film. Armie Hammer, on the other hand, didn't impress me at all. I didn't feel any emotion but charm out of him which is why his role was so boring to watch. It could also may be the fact that I just didn't think he truly grounded himself in this character. He was constantly trying to go deeper into this character but decided to distract the audience with his attractive looks. The scenery, just like Phantom Thread, amazed the audience more than it did with the story. Very simple plots but makes you want to go to there that really bothered me. I feel as though, this was a film I could have watched at home on a rainy day. I went into the theatre with high expectations and some of them were met but most of them were sadly crushed. It just couldn't hold my attention due to how long it was. I wanted to love this film but it wasn't dramatic enough for me, nothing really happened. It's something everyone goes through one time in their life. However, the story had nothing more exciting than regular life to offer. Overall, I didn't love or hate this film. I just hoped for some drama between these two lovers.
My Rating: 7/10