It's about a young boy, Elio (Timothée Chalamet) who falls in love one summer with an older grad student, Oliver (Armie Hammer), who is staying with him and his family of archaeologists at their place in northern Italy one summer in the 1980s.
Sometimes in the movies, you need an access point to help you begin to empathize. I've never been to Europe. I don't consciously remember the 1980s. My family isn't Jewish or archaeologists. I've never had sexual feelings for a man. On the surface, there's not much of anything relatable (or American, for that matter) in the movie.
My access point was the song "Futile Devices" by Sufjan Stevens played in full midway through the film, as the movie contemplated the feelings of young 17-year old Elio. Even though I couldn't imagine the depth of what he was feeling and how personal it was, I immediately was in his shoes. Because I know what that song means to me.
That's not just a testament to Sufjan Stevens (who also has two other new songs that fit nicely here), but to the director Luca Guadagnino who knows the aesthetic feeling he was going for.
Guaragnino has created a lot of beautiful cinematic scenes. You won't forget it's Europe. Such as when Elio and Oliver circle each other around a WWI statue or when the camera stays fixed on the landscape as they ride down the bike path.
Chalamet gives a mature, emotionally deep performance as the boy. There are explicit scenes, and I'm not a fan of sexual situations in the movies in general. But for everything that happens, his best scene of the movie is during the closing credits where the camera sits on his face.
And Michael Stuhlbarg, as Elio's father, gives an absolutely killer monologue to his son at the end that will leave many people in tears.
It's one of the best of year. Find your access point.
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