Call Me by Your Name

THE GIST: As per usual, the Perlmans are spending their summer in their northern Italy villa. Dad is a professor, mom is a translator, and Elio is their cultured 17-year-old son. The professor, traditionally, invites a graduate student to spend a few weeks at the villa to help him with his studies. This year, that honor falls to 24-year-old Oliver, a gregarious, smart, and very handsome American. While diffident and condescending at first, Elio slowly warms up to Oliver, and their budding friendship eventually leads to an awakening of romantic feelings and sexual desires. Will they follow their hearts?

Call Me by Your Name is a beautifully directed film by Luca Guadagnino, based on an André Aciman's novel, whose adaptation by James Ivory was awarded the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, making Ivory the oldest winner of a competitive Oscar, at 89, surpassing the achievement of Ennio Morricone at 87.

The film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Original Song (for Sufjan Stevens's "Mystery of Love"), and Best Lead Actor for Timothée Chalamet.

Chalamet and Armie Hammer are spellbinding and adorable as they gingerly dance around one another. Michael Stuhlbarg and Amira Casar are also well cast as Elio's parents.

THE BOTTOM LINE: A sweet love story, whose name no one dares speak, and whose future lies in doubt. This is a classic must-see.

Grade: 9