Thursday, March 8, 2018

Call Me By Your Name (2017)


I’ve seen lots of Italian Films in my day. From Neorealism to Giallo, I’ve taken in some of the best Cinema that boot-shaped country has to offer. Yet, as "sensual" as that country truly is, that is not the word I would use to describe their films. Luca Guadagnino is the exception.

Unlike his countryman Paolo Sorrentino, I don’t feel a slavishly self-conscious debt to the operatic camera movements and emotions of Fellini, Visconti, or Leone. From the enveloping soundtrack of insects and wind through trees, to the sun-soaked photography that is so bright it warms you with refracted light off the screen, every artistic decision here is intended to make you feel as though you are actually in the north of Italy, in the early 80’s, during summer. There is no need to beat us over the head with heighten emotions in desperate hope of making us feel something/anything. We are already/immediately right there. We are taking everything in with all five senses simultaneously. We can smell the sweat, taste the food and feel the caresses. We are living it. We are living the good times...and the sad times, too.

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