Call Me by Your Name (2017)
★★★★½
This review may contain spoilers.
wow.. uh what is there to say.. this is beautiful. I love this. truly amazing storytelling here but what a unique love story I didn't want it to end, I wanted to stay engrossed in this world forever.
the camera work is everything, it is sun-soaked and bleached to give it that summer vibe, it is partially out of focus to make it feel more real the focus pull isn't accurate all the time and that is okay, it is slow and purposeful every shot moves as if we are objective eyes on this story as we watch it slowly unfold, it is private and discreet giving us the ability to see this moment but allowing these characters who we grow to love throughout this film the ability to have private moments all to themselves, there are wide long shots that allow us to take in the scenery and breathe slowly along with our characters, to allow us to feel the feelings that we are feeling in this movie, to sit with them as the dad kind of says in that last scene don't push those feelings away feel them, we barely ever go handled with shaky cam unless it is needed, there are a few times where we are caught so off guard we jump the 180 rule which is great because it's there but its never used to play into the story it's only a rule we don't break but when broken it creates such a feeling of disorientation.
the writing is my favorite aspect of this story here it's a world that you never want to escape from, you just want to stay with these characters and learn there there fears their doubts the things that drive them you want to see them succeed and fail.. for Elio especially you see him through a range of emotions in this film and Timothee kills this, he and Armie Hammer are a stand out in this movie which is good because the movie is about them, the dialogue is raw which sounds pretentionus but that's okay because it is there is a way that these characters speak all of them speak with intent to gain information about the other but with the goal of not letting the other find out that's there goal.
one last thing about the writing that I wanted to mention is how real and raw that last scene is omg.. I cried and man was it emotional...
the music is jaw-dropping, and one of my favorite aspects of the film, the sad somberness but happiness and remanence in Visions of Gideon I think will stay with me forever. Mystery of Love is a song that I have loved since before I saw the movie and I will love it forever now with this newfound context, the score is amazing having a piano is genius I thought that the guitar was going to start coming in at places and I didn't hear it but I was lost and engrossed in this film so maybe I missed it as everything flowed together so well.
the lighting is great, like I said it's got this sun-soaked and bleachy kind of feel that summer has and it is so gorgeous to look at in this movie. god thinking of it now makes me nostalgic for this time in Italy and I wasn't even alive then. I don't know where to put it but the colorist did a great job as well everything was colored great and vibrant the blues especially.
also, I like the font for the movie it's cool, was that real crayon's that they were drawing with or is it just a font?
500 Days of Summer is a movie about a summer fling that doesn't go as planned and ends in tragedy this movie is about two characters growing closer together over a summer that they will never forget, and as they go their separate ways they will remember this summer that they had for the rest of there lives. a time when they could be themselves.
I will watch this again because I feel like I just didn't get everything the first time I saw it, I don't think I grasped everything with the Fly there is symbolism here I think but I am not sure if it is intentional.
notes below
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- I got jump scared by the start of the movie. -- cool opening credits
- also Sufjan Stevens is the composer of two songs and I couldn't be more excited I love him his music is so powerful and raw and great.
- oo I like the crayon titles, super cool
- I loved that the camera followed him through the stairs
- also I like that the film just started. no messing around lol.
- I love the subtle wind that was in the background when he had his headphones.
- he just threw the book lol.
- I like how we just stay and sit places in the camera work. it's nice to be able to just sit in a scene for a change without it wanting to cut away so quickly. such long wide takes.
- I like Oliver's voice deep but not super deep or gravely is that a weird thing to say?
- I like the scene direction of the camera movements (9mins)
- I thought they were yelling over the cars, were they?
- I like that he was in the mirror in the background.
- also the piano here is nice.
- I like how when he grabbed the water and we flipped over the 180 lines we felt so disoriented.
- that hard cut from piano to bed was nice
- I like this wide of him arriving in the garden, these moments allow for us to breathe but also we feel like an on looker to this story.
- The piano makes sense in the soundtrack now.
- I like how Oliver is out of focus the entire time he is playing the piano.
- I loved the writing in the scene where he is playing the piano for Oliver, so much is not said but said in the subtext.
- I like this scene where he sleeping by the pool, they are on opposite ends of the pool so to speak.
- the film seems grainy but on purpose sun-bleached.
- I like how their walking was shot with the bricks in between them.
- I like how the camera was bobbing on the water, allowing it to feel like you are on the water with them
- that was well shot, allowing them that moment as we watch from a distance.
- I like how Italian is spoken here such a beautiful language.
- I like this scene where she reads a book to him, very tender here amazing such a sweet moment.
- I like how she is reading to him.
- I like how they block these conversations between Elio and Oliver they are never facing each other at least not yet, they are always away from each other which seems intentional up until Oliver starts to open himself up to Elio then they face each other
- and also his parents know he likes Oliver.
- I love how so much is said in the subtext of the writing here I just really appreciate good writing like that. so much is said in this scene at the memorial to the battle in WW1 but also then again not much is said.
- the film is staying this wide as a way of giving the characters a place to have private moments, which is nice it's not off-screen development but allowing the characters to have moments all their own.
- THEY DID A KISS! Yay!
- ALSO you feel that kiss, you can feel that the character's emotions are real it was so raw and that looked like it was a good kiss. was that weird to say yes but next note.
- I love that there isn't a structure or a narrative here like there is it's just a love story but that there isn't a world-ending thing it's just simply a love story between two people.
- that smash cut to him in his room with his head down was very smooth.
- I like this wide ally shot it's nice.
- I like the angle on this sex scene with Marzia.
- also the little thing that he does where he straightens his back is a good touch.
- the choice not to film their sex scene is so great! it adds to the characters' feeling that this whole summer is their own thing, their private moment for lack of a better term.
- The choice not to film their sex scene is so great here, it adds this feeling that the camera is an onlooker to their relationship but not an intruder, we are watching them fall in love.
- so he is he scared that all he wanted him for was sex right or am I wrong I could be wrong. he wasn't sure that he loved him.
- I was wrong to some degree, he is scared that he is forcing him into something that he doesn't want.
- my god how beautiful the mystery of love is.. so hauntingly beautiful and that montage they are so cute.
- there goodbye.. :( so much was said without words oh my god I'm gonna cry...
- also we flipped over the 180 line again to show how jarring this is for Elio.
- update: I am emotionally devastated
- we get to see that mirror shot again but with different context.
- my god what a way to end this movie just one long take of him crying and looking into the fire.. beautiful.. crying.. and i'm sobbing.
