Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

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All the Best People
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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#51 Post by All the Best People » Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:58 am

knives wrote:Aren't there hundreds of books and films with such low stakes some of which are fairly universally regarded as good? I don't mean to say that Guadagnino sells the story well enough to invest into it, but how different are the stakes here from, say, your average Rohmer film? The question, as I understand it from a variety of people that have seen the film, isn't whether the tears are useful, but if those are the emotions he would feel at that moment allowing him to break into humanity. It's a very small r romantic notion.
There are often moral stakes -- stakes of personal character -- in Rohmer's films. Beliefs put on the line, adherence to codes being challenged. That doesn't exist here, for me, anyway -- which isn't some crime, not all films have to deal with those sorts of things, though most great ones do. The lack I felt here wasn't so much of stakes as it was of any sort of resonant conflict, and I didn't really feel any emotional pull to the relationship, which struck me (from Elio's perspective, at least) as a physical awakening more than an emotional one.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#52 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:15 am

Brian, all I’ll say is that I’ve discussed multiple aspects of the film at length here and engaged with other people on it as well and you’ve chosen to hone in on one thing and say my entire opinion hinges on that and only that. You can post until you’re blue in the keyboard about what you’ve decided I think about this film or you can mercifully move on and stop telling me how clear I’m not being. You seem to be the only person who has a problem with it, so maybe it doesn’t lie with me?

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#53 Post by pandroid7 » Sun Feb 25, 2018 6:22 pm

DarkImbecile wrote:I actually thought the lack of the by-now cliched "coming out" obstacles faced by Elio was part of what made the movie work so well; rather than emphasizing the struggle against homophobic parents or peers, institutional indifference or hostility, guilt based in religion or cultural shaming, or obvious teenage identity angst, the film is able to focus on the core relationship and its universally relatable aspects. This both works in making the film as accessible as possible while also presenting an extratextually valuable cultural representation of a gay relationship that doesn't end in AIDS, suicide, hate crimes, etc. - just a broken heart. And the fact that the heartache is contextualized not as a loss of "the (only) One" or a life-defining absence, but a step on the path to adulthood, is part of the beauty of Call Me By Your Name. The reason I was in tears during Stuhlbarg's speech wasn't because of any sadness for Elio - the film seems to agree with everyone here that he'll be just fine - but because I wish I (as a heterosexual white male who grew up poor, more or less fatherless, monolingual, with no musical ability, Mercedes-less, Italian villa-less) had heard something approaching that meaningful from my parents about the importance of not growing calloused or closed off to the pain that often comes with the best parts of life. I don't think we need to feel pity or sympathy for characters going through some of the most basic human emotions to feel invested in or relate to those characters and emotions.

It seems that those voicing criticism mostly have issues with the accessibility of the characters and the narrative, which is going to be subjective regardless of what anyone else says, but I haven't heard any complaints about the stellar cinematography, acting, music, and all the other elements done so well here; if nothing else, this is not a hard movie to watch, and from its passionate supporters, it seems that if it hits you in the right spot, it hits pretty hard. I'd be curious if anyone has any technical or even structural/story complaints beyond the "poor little rich kid" or played out "nothing but bike rides in the country" themes.
Yes yes yes. As a queer person, I get tired of the fact that usually, in order for a queer film to break through to the awards season/perpetual writeups stage (which seems to honestly only happen with one or two films per year), it MUST be focused on tragedy and hardship. Queer people deserve all types of films, and it was extremely refreshing to see a gay love story that managed to be emotional and heartbreaking without having the typical antagonistic elements present. I loved Moonlight, and it was a story that demanded to be told and seeing it win best picture is a moment I will hold dear in my queer heart for all time. However, I really liked that the next Chosen One was something decidedly different and less high stakes story of first love and romance.

However, I hesitate even to really say it was less high stakes because emotionally this film took a huge toll on me and continues to. The tenacious and almost time release way in which it wove itself into my consciousness is remarkable and rare and I sometimes wonder if I'll ever recover from it. One of the most unique things about my experience with the film is that nearly every close, fellow queer friend I have saw it within the space of a couple weeks, and I kept having different versions of the same conversation with them. Conversations in which we commiserated and wept and analyzed and felt so much closer to each other in a way that has been invaluable to us especially in this politically contentious era in which we often feel so alone. Now, I want to make it clear I'm not suggesting anyone here whose experience was less than stellar be influenced or convinced by this. Sometimes a film doesn't connect and if Elio's privilege or general demeanor or any other elements just kept you from connecting, that's just how it crumbles, cookie-wise. :P It's so hard to say what makes art work or not work for someone, and it's not something you have a lot of control over. Just know that this film viscerally impacted me and so many of the people I love in my life in a way not easily forgotten. I will try to describe some of the elements here that really packed a punch for me.

First off, I agree with what Mungo mentioned here about Elio's parents kind of recognized that he was an awkward kid who had yet to connect in a real way with his peers. Both his father and mother are seen encouraging interaction between Elio and Oliver at different points in the film, and I think with the precedent being set that Elio is a bit standoffish and unsure how to communicate his feelings (his tendency to be alone transcribing music yet furtively looking at Oliver wishing he could join in, sniping at Oliver about Bach and then berating himself for it privately), it makes sense that, combined with his age and the newness of this experience, it would hit him like a ton of bricks when he finally lets his walls down and opens himself up to his intense desire for Oliver.

One of the main aspects of this movie that made it so successful for me is that it's a film told in queer language. It's subtle, it's nuanced, you have to fill in the blanks about their connection because they can't make the big, obvious, out-in-the-open romantic overtures that straight people do (see: Elio saying Oliver didn't give him any signs and Oliver vehemently protesting that yes he did, when he massaged his shoulder). Now, some of you might argue that Elio's privilege contradicts this, but it doesn't. I had a very liberal parent who gave zero shits about my sexuality and dialogue was always open and non-judgmental. That doesn't insulate you from the outside world or from your own young, fledgling insecurities though. It's still very difficult to just take the leap and pursue someone of the same sex when you're messily navigating your budding sexuality, and that was something this film did expertly that I found my friends and I continually coming back to. I imagine some people will read this as a lack of connection/not enough to go on, but for me it was spot on and I related so fucking hard.

This was in no small part due to the excellence of Chalamet's performance. He is very believable as Elio, and his attention to detail and body language was superb. The way he touches his fingers to his lips in awe after Oliver holds his hand. The desperate, frustrated, whiney moan he chokes out at the beginning of the peach scene when he’s remembering his night with Oliver...I've made a variation of that masturbatory fantasizing sound and I think most people have. It's a quiet, intimate moment you don't feel like you should be watching, and even though that sound is maybe one second of film time, it haunts me. The way he puts his foot on top of Oliver’s when he isn’t sure how to begin. The way he navigates the spectrum of emotions he experiences when parting with Oliver for the final time, running his knuckles and the back of his hand under his chin, twitching and taking deep breaths on the bench before finally calling his mother. He’s nervous and awkward and unsure of himself but playing at being confident and composed sometimes, like he’s trying on different suits to see what fits. It’s so relatable it aches.

I saw the film a little over a month ago now, and I made the dubious decision to accompany a couple friends to see it a second time (was not a responsible decision in terms of my emotional well-being honestly haha). The second time around, since I knew what was coming, I had more time to focus on details. One portion of the film that jumped out at me more the second time around is the scene of Elio’s mother reading to them. After she reads the “is it better to speak or die?” part and Elio laments his lack of courage to ask such a thing, we get our first hint of how well his parents know the internal struggles he thinks are hidden. Mr. Perlman reminds him he can always talk to them, and then we make a beautiful transition into Elio telling Oliver about that passage in the book and finally making his courageous decision to speak. It’s lovely how those scenes flow into each other.

To go back to Elio’s “we wasted so many days” comment, another part of the film’s structure that is done expertly and gradually is the establishment of the languorous mood of summer juxtaposed with the rapidly diminishing time Elio and Oliver have together. In the beginning of the film, there is time to lounge about and take naps, scenes of Elio tossing and turning in his bed or sitting transcribing music, everyone just leisurely passing the time without hurrying toward anything at all. And then once Elio and Oliver kiss, time starts to pass differently. A bit of anxiety edges into the languid atmosphere as Elio impatiently looks at his watch all day waiting for midnight, and after they spend the night together, scenes of relaxing dinners and reading in the sun become more infrequent, replaced with Elio racing into town on his bike to see Oliver and the two of them gleefully embarking on the trip to Bergamo that will be their last hurrah before a bittersweet farewell.

Even some of the camerawork choices start to be a little more dynamic. In the beginning we have slow, panning shots of the Perlman family’s home and landscape, and in the beginning of the Bergamo section we have a much rockier tracking shot of the route the bus is taking on a dirt road (at least I assumed/thought that looked like it was supposed to be in front of the driving bus, it could also be them on bikes I imagine). Who doesn't remember that evocative feeling of summer in your formative years where it seems you have all the time in the world until suddenly you don't?

There are so many visual and sonic choices I adored. The dreamy, romantic piano line chosen for the memorial scene puts you in Elio’s headspace as he confesses to Oliver, repeating “Because I wanted you to know” slowly as though parsing his own meaning as he’s giving it voice. The blurry lens of the camera when Elio and Oliver kiss, Elio drunk and deliriously in love on the streets of Bergamo, makes you feel intoxicated right along with him. The backdrop of the orchards full of ripe fruit and the homoerotic nature of the sculptures Oliver and Mr. Perlman are studying is perfect but not heavy-handed. Nothing in this film beats you over the head. Everything is gradual and deliberate, sometimes painfully so but it’s in that ache that you find the magic I think. Everything in the scenery is lush and sensuous. And I can’t even THINK about the Sufjan songs or I will be an emotional wreck.

To speak to the criticisms of Luca not making the main love scene more graphic, that never occurred to me while watching the film. The way the first love scene between the two men is shot and choreographed, the way Elio clings to him and tilts his head back to expose his neck, eyes closed like he’s thoroughly entranced by the fact that this is real, the intimacy of them lying naked in bed afterward holding each other’s faces, it puts the focus on the absolutely deep-rooted yearning rather than simple mechanics of sex. I thought that was almost more erotic and meaningful than it would have been otherwise. And I say this as a person who LOVES queer smut. Like a lot. As in I have written hundreds of pages of it and read thousands and will read thousands more. I think Luca’s choices were wise and effective, and they have had a much more lasting impression on me than more graphic sex scenes have. And this brings us back to the quiet subtlety of the film because damn...that morning after? Where they both withdraw a bit and exchange awkward smiles, neither sure if the other party wants to repeat the encounter or if their feelings are returned in quite the same way and how to proceed from there? Yet another intimate scene that feels intrusive to watch but oh so realistic.

Sorry this is so long, but I have so many thoughts. I'll try to cap it off with a bit about Michael Stuhlbarg's speech. As a person attracted to people all over the gender spectrum, I really enjoyed that the film doesn’t paint the sexuality of the characters with hard, stringent lines. Elio might not be nearly as enamored with Marzia as he is with Oliver, and likewise Chiara may be more of an afterthought to Oliver than Elio is, but that doesn’t negate their encounters with the women. Sexuality is allowed to be fluid and free without any overwrought discussions of definitions in this film. Elio’s father’s speech is mostly talked about in context of the "don't shun your emotions and grow cold" sentiment, but I really enjoy that it's focused on Elio embracing his feelings and himself for who he is without an emphasis on adhering a strict label to what that means. The weight is instead given to Elio defining that in his own time. Once again, as a very fluid person I greatly appreciate this.

I also have come across some people interpreting Mr. Perlman's speech as though he is completely dissatisfied with his life and only thinks of the raw passion of youth as valid love. I don't think so. I think when he says he never had what Elio and Oliver had, that something always got in the way, that he means having a homosexual experience in an honest, unashamed way. He has a wonderful life with a partner who he is very comfortable and open with. He is shown consuming life with gusto. I think he just has some regrets as we all do and wants to minimize Elio's potential for regret as most parents do. Also, it absolutely breaks my already broken heart when he lies to Elio about his mother's knowledge of his affair with Oliver because he knows his son is too vulnerable to hear it just yet. A+++ parenting. Likewise, his mother combing her fingers through his hair and letting him mourn without pressing him to talk before he's ready.

Okay, ending before this becomes a novella. I just loved this film a lot and needed to post about it. :)

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Brian C
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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#54 Post by Brian C » Sun Feb 25, 2018 7:34 pm

That's a lovely post and a real pleasure to read, thank you very much for taking the time.

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#55 Post by furbicide » Sun Feb 25, 2018 11:29 pm

Seconded. You've captured what's so beautiful and spell-binding about the film, and what the 'first world problems' critique (not here, necessarily, but just in general when applied to films about upper-middle-class people) so often overlooks: the depth and beauty of human existence, particularly regarding the emotional intensity of falling in love. So many films display that so superficially, either because of commercial requirements (nuance has to be sacrificed for narrative), apathy or simple lack of filmmaking skills.

And I say this as a leftist: perhaps nobody should be rich enough to be able to have their own villa in Italy with servants, but let's never forget that the struggle depicted in so much social-realist and post-colonial cinema is about finding the basic material subsistence, autonomy and freedom from violence and exploitation that can enable one to have and enjoy the basic things that so many of us crave, like having a happy family life or having the space, time and safety to fully surrender to feelings of love – a possibility that, let's not forget, has been so often denied queer people for so long. Our world is unfair; but it's not always privilege that is necessarily bad, it's that so many people are excluded from it.

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#56 Post by pandroid7 » Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:16 am

Thank you both for the kind replies! And you raise a good point, furbicide, about the lack of access being part of the problem. Related, there was a small comment during the scene with that very animated couple they have over for dinner (the ones who keep talking over everyone and debating Italian politics) where the woman says to Elio's mother "you've changed since you inherited this place." It made me wonder how new their specific access to that villa and its servants was. I mean, I'm sure they weren't impoverished before that or that this detail necessarily changes much. It's just a small line whose inclusion I missed the first time around.

One thing I didn't get around to talking about in my original post is Oliver in general. In the aforementioned conversations I've had with friends about this film, everyone has a slightly different interpretation of Oliver's level of emotional investment in his relationship with Elio/his own comfort level with his sexuality/what his background is. A particular friend of mine zeroed in on lines of Oliver's and construed them in ways I hadn't thought about. He mentioned that Oliver's repeated sentiment of not wanting to hurt Elio or mess him up in some way echoed things he had heard from older lovers in his own life, and that he read those lines as code for "this will mean the world to you but not quite as much to me so I want to prepare you for that." I don't necessarily agree with that but can definitely see it as a possibility, and thinking about it in that context made the damn film hurt me all over again haha.

It's hard to know how to view Oliver since the film is really Elio's POV (as is the book I hear, I really need to read it), and so much of Oliver's behavior before he starts to spend time alone with Elio is sort of hard to gauge in terms of whether or not it's genuine or just posturing. Elio says it best in his first observation, "he seems confident". Seems feels like the operative word. His flirtation with Chiara, the self-assurance he carries himself with, his tendency to be the social butterfly flitting from place to place, can feel like an act, Oliver playing up the Adonis masculine ideal he knows people will assign to him anyway and using it as a beneficial deflection.

When he's discussing with Elio the subtle signs he gave him, he mentions that he spends hours out there alone every night. Elio starts to say what the audience has also been led to believe, that he assumed Oliver was going out at night, probably sleeping with Chiara. There are only a few other short glimpses into his state of mind, most notably the longing, mournful way he looks at Elio as he sleeps on their last night in Bergamo and the way he mentions that Elio is lucky to have parents who won't cart him off to a correctional facility. It's clear he's less comfortable with his sexuality than Elio because he hasn't been allowed to be. I really like the solarized/photo negatives technique used in that moment when Oliver is watching Elio sleep. It makes it seem as though we're witnessing a recap of their Bergamo trip through Elio's dreams, through Oliver's already wistful remembrance, or perhaps both.

I think ultimately what matters more to me than the truth of Oliver's feelings is Elio's reaction to his perception of who Oliver is, but it's been interesting to speculate more about the character the longer the film sits with me.

A couple more miscellaneous scenes I enjoyed because apparently I can't stop cataloguing them all: Marzia asking "I'm not your girl?" and sounding so girlish and devastated just kills me, and I like how their relationship comes back around when she realizes what was going on. The scenes that lead up to their first night together: Elio sitting on the road until nightfall waiting for Oliver to return (loved the film processing they used for that sequence too with the visible sprockets and light flares...idk if I'm describing this correctly, but I thought it worked really well), feigning sleep when Oliver finally comes back, writing the note and discarding it ("Way over the top" made me giggle because once again...who hasn't been there at that age?!), etc were so torturous. I felt like I was back in my teenagedom with an indelible crush, waiting for them to return a phone call. It made me twitch in my seat and sigh with relief when Elio finally received the note response from Oliver.

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#57 Post by Altair » Mon Feb 26, 2018 8:47 pm

I must agree with everyone else and say that pandroid7 is just nailing everything which is just so wonderful about this film and articulating it very well. A few stray thoughts: I particularly enjoyed how intellectual exploration was celebrated in the film - it seems so rare in English language cinema to rejoice in the pursuit of knowledge, culture, and the arts for its own sake, while weaving it into the texture of the narrative. Elio and Oliver seduce each other physically yes, but also on an intellectual level, which is why the scene with Elio playing the piano works so well. I also felt that ultimately the film was incredibly life affirming - yes Elio experiences heartbreak, but the experience has made him grow emotionally and developed him as a person - it has been a good experience fundamentally. He has lived a gilded summer and the audience has been allowed to share in that pleasure.

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#58 Post by pandroid7 » Thu Mar 01, 2018 1:13 pm

Aw thank you, Altair, and I agree that intellectual seduction is as much of a component as the physical for this pair. I was pretty envious of Elio's atmosphere. That's pretty much my dream life, but I will probably never have the means to fulfill that!

"He has lived a gilded summer and the audience has been allowed to share in that pleasure." I love the way you phrased that. :)

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Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#59 Post by movielocke » Fri Mar 02, 2018 4:30 am

I thought this was pretty decent overall, and while laconic and boring, it is laconic and boring in the way of my summers growing up before technology.

So it does a wonderful job of capturing and manifesting that tone of “being” that one might have in such a season, and of portraying the low stakes and slight back and forths with potential partners during such youthful summers.

This all then gets intertwined with the difficulties of figuring out first kiss, first love, first sex etc. I have to admit, I chuckled at just how bad his first kiss was to Oliver, with his tongue darting about and the eagerness and awkwardness of it all. That definitely brought back memories of kissing my first (and second cause the first wasn’t very good either) girlfriend and how I made the same mistakes.

But on the other hand , the film is also just flat dull, there’s no substance to their relationship, just the relatibility of ye old “better to have loved and lost” canard. And while their relationship is developing with meaningful looks and slight gestures (which elios Mom does a lot of as well, whilst his dad hides his knowledge more masterfully), it doesn’t actually develop beyond physical touch (which is all you need to fall so hard in love at that age, generally). But that means as an adult, it’s cute, and intense, and nostalgic, but also not that impactful to watch.

And unfortunately the film also has the banal, monotonous music (what’s it called again? waltz number three by Elliot smith sufjan?), and the flashbacks in negative, and even some voiceover!

I mean I don’t think I was supposed to be more fascinated by the parents then the main characters but throughout the film I was far more Interested in them.

But of course that pays off when michael stuhlberg saves the entire film with an absolutely phenomenal monologue delivered with such quiet power and intense empathy. That one scene is so far above the rest of the film it almost makes the entire film better.

Really nice final shot with the crying tears of fire whilst snow descends too, that wasn’t on the nose at all.

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#60 Post by domino harvey » Fri Mar 02, 2018 8:11 am

Calling Sufjan Stevens banal is like that time Ebert claimed all the songs in the Graduate were forgettable

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#61 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Mar 02, 2018 11:48 am

Re: Stevens, I saw a groundswell of people griping on Twitter and such before I saw the film (or heard the songs) that the song over the end credits is the one that should have been nominated, and I remain completely puzzled by that. The song that was nominated is by far the superior and much less esoteric choice, and I'm still not really even sure the one over the end credits is all that good after some time spent with both of them, despite the lush magnificence of the end credits of this film overall. Context matters in most things, but not in the Academy Awards' Best Song category. No voters care how the songs were used in the movies, they just care that the songs are strong. And they might not even care about that.

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#62 Post by HJackson » Fri Mar 02, 2018 12:57 pm

Mystery of Love definitely has a lot more meat on the bone. I think both tracks are beautiful though, and are used quite nicely in the film.

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#63 Post by hearthesilence » Fri Mar 02, 2018 1:32 pm

domino harvey wrote:Calling Sufjan Stevens banal is like that time Ebert claimed all the songs in the Graduate were forgettable
I like what I've heard from Sufjan Stevens (especially Illinois) and I like Simon & Garfunkel's last two studio albums. But I've never been a fan of "The Sound of Silence." Much like their worst music, it comes off as self-important and pretentious. On the other hand, I suppose it's pretty fitting given the story and what I remember about Ben Braddock himself.

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#64 Post by movielocke » Fri Mar 02, 2018 1:55 pm

domino harvey wrote:Calling Sufjan Stevens banal is like that time Ebert claimed all the songs in the Graduate were forgettable
I mean it sounds exactly like every elliot smith song (which all sound exactly the same), that I thought was the greatest when I was 19, so :shrug: very apt choice.

on the other hand, I didn't have the volume up very loud, so maybe I missed something other than the droning monotone singing and guitar strumming?

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#65 Post by domino harvey » Fri Mar 02, 2018 1:58 pm

Dude, quit while you're behind

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#66 Post by DarkImbecile » Fri Mar 02, 2018 3:05 pm

HJackson wrote:Mystery of Love definitely has a lot more meat on the bone. I think both tracks are beautiful though, and are used quite nicely in the film.
You’re not wrong that “Mystery” is the more complex song both structurally and lyrically, but I’m unapologetically one of those people mfunk mentions who rushed to complain about the choice of nominated song here and elsewhere. I don’t know whether I’m unable to extricate them from their respective emotional contexts in the film, but “Gideon” just makes me instantly emotional every time I hear it, and while “Mystery” is lovely, it just doesn’t make my heart hurt the way its sister track does.

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#67 Post by pandroid7 » Fri Mar 02, 2018 3:19 pm

I hadn't really thought about which is the better pick for best song (maybe that's just me cynically feeling like he won't win anyway so not caring as much about which the Academy chose). They're both plucked from pretty pivotal scenes, but I think it's nearly a neck and neck race of emotional destruction for me. They're both quite lovely. I dug that new version of "Futile Devices" too. Looking forward to seeing him perform. I may or may not be making a peach dessert for my Oscar menu.

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#68 Post by movielocke » Fri Mar 02, 2018 5:30 pm

domino harvey wrote:Dude, quit while you're behind
I can do worse, I didn't realize there were different songs while watching the film, since they sound the same. ;)

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#69 Post by Shrew » Fri Mar 02, 2018 6:03 pm

Smith is bad comparison for Stevens, as they share a melancholy tone and breathy whisper-singing and... not much else. But I do think he's an artist that needs headphones/decent sound, as much of his impact comes from his arrangements/production. As for the songs, I much prefer Visions of Gideon, which builds and ebbs in a much more affecting manner and is musically more interesting, but I get that the simplicity and repetition of the lyrics, while thematically appropriate, wouldn't really play on an Oscar stage. I did really hate the Sakamoto composition that scores the opening credits, so I may have started off on the wrong foot with this film.

As such, I'm also firmly in the camp that finds this a pretty but trite bore that is trying to do too much and hitting very little. I appreciate the space this occupies as queer story free of consequences for queerness, but part of the problem with the sense of privilege surrounding Elio, aside from all the class dynamics and envy, is that no one ever really challenges him. Even the girlfriend can't help but adore him after he's ghosted her. Chalamet's brooding conveys some sense of adolescence self-doubt, but it only fleetingly explores the complications of that. Likewise, I don't buy the intellectual seduction based on some flashy performance of musical styles and few stray quotes of philosophy.

In short, I don't think this film is inherently wrong-headed like Three Billboards, but I do feel like someone cut the nerves out of this film and left us with an exquisite corpse.

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#70 Post by TMDaines » Sun Mar 04, 2018 9:24 pm

Really nice posts, pandroid. Made wading through the first two pages of privileged people not being understood or not feeling even more privileged people worthwhile.

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#71 Post by TMDaines » Mon Mar 05, 2018 3:24 am

I’m not sure I know what a “thesis movie” is.

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#72 Post by jsteffe » Mon Mar 05, 2018 10:56 am

Maybe something like this? Roman à thèse

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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#73 Post by pianocrash » Sun Apr 01, 2018 2:14 am

The commentary track with Chalamet and Michael Stulhbarg was a nice surprise to find on the blu, and the pair are pretty charming regarding their experiences making the film, as well as how much the actors collaborated with the source material, to the point that I'm willing to forgive Guadagnino's sometimes ridiculous ambitions outside of the sphere of what eventually ended up onscreen. They both mention the 4+ hour version, as well as insight into which scenes were judiciously cut (more for time than anything else, less for any one substantial plot point). Stulhbarg's always so amazing, so hearing him talk about his choices in the sphere of Luca's intentions and goals was really fascinating, as well as the small flourishes all the actors chose here & there, which were really some of my favorite moments (the aforementioned family reading scene, for one), as well as smaller stylistic choices (the blue flaring overlaying the scene of Elio waiting in the dusk for Oliver to show up back at the house, which was actually an accident in processing the film). If anything, it all reminded me that any film worth it's weight is the process of a collaboration and compromise (and plenty of other things), which is sometimes too easy to forget.

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Petty Bourgeoisie
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 12:17 am

Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#74 Post by Petty Bourgeoisie » Sun Apr 01, 2018 8:33 pm

This is a fantastic exercise in filmmaking. One could technically say it's perfect.

It's also the most unrealistic piece of fluff I've ever witnessed. I was hoping for a plot twist where the perfectly domesticated servants rose up and killed their pampered, sexually obsessed overlords. They could have done the deed by shoving beautifully ripened apricots down their throats.

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Lost Highway
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Re: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

#75 Post by Lost Highway » Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:12 am

Petty Bourgeoisie wrote:This is a fantastic exercise in filmmaking. One could technically say it's perfect.

It's also the most unrealistic piece of fluff I've ever witnessed. I was hoping for a plot twist where the perfectly domesticated servants rose up and killed their pampered, sexually obsessed overlords. They could have done the deed by shoving beautifully ripened apricots down their throats.
Apart from that they obviously left out how the rich eat babies for breakfast, what about the film was so unrealistic ? I came of age at around the same time as Elio and while my experiences don’t completely line up with his, there was a lot about the film I recognised and which struck me as emotionally true.

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