I have noticed many coming-of-age movies that have come out in recent years that seem to tell different stories or the same stories from a fresh take or angle. And, there were many strong movies of recent years: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Spectacular Now, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Moonlight, Lady Bird, Wonder, The Edge of Seventeen, etc. This genre tells you that you can change some variety of the cliches and character tropes with setting up other stories within that community in both high school or college or other personal lives.
This movie is again another exploration of the human condition of a young man growing up as he is developing himself to become a mature man. This movie may be in the same league as Moonlight as the movie is about a boy struggling in a poor, urban society as he confronts his sexuality. With this movie, it is about a young man finding himself by forming a limited relationship with someone in a European setting but it also delivers of portrait of young love that is both enthralling and devastating.
Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is a 17-year-old boy that lives in Italy with his parents (Michael Stuhlbarg and Amira Casar). His father is a professor of archaeology who usually invites a student to help with his work and also help with the person's academic paperwork. The student in the summer of 1983 is Oliver (Armie Hammer), an exuberant human being that does not match with Elio's introspective personality as he loves reading books while he also spends time with his girlfriend, Marzia (Esther Garrel). However, Elio gets a bit jealous as Oliver is attracted to one of the other local girls.
Soon, Elio and Oliver begins to spend time with each other as their relationship blossoms to become something more as they take walks, swim, bike and go with Elio's father on archaeological expeditions. As his relationship with Marzia grows, Elio increasingly finds Oliver attractive. Later, Elio confesses his feelings to Oliver, who tells him not to feel more for him than just be friends. They grow more distant of each other, apart from some glances, as Elio longs for Oliver more.
You are going to hear or read this comment from many reviewers but I do concur with them that the developing relationship within its story takes its time and I liked that about it because I felt that subtle connection grow as it is not rushed like it is some last resort to make the plot interesting. Even though it is interesting, you want to see the characters fleshed out as the love story begins to grow between them and the dialogue is not cheesy like some sort of typical, formulaic romantic story. It feels organic within the story and not forced. The young man is a teenager exploring himself near the point of entering college.
Now, there will be criticisms without education as to questioning whether or not it is illegal for a teenager to have a consensual relationship with an adult. The age of consent to have any sort of relationship in Europe is 14. (Hey, I had to research before I jump to conclusions to whether or not the relationship is legal.)
Timothée Chalamet may the ascending star of 2017 with this movie and Lady Bird, two very different performances. He may be young but he deserves an Oscar nomination as he portrays a young man facing a complicated first love and he masks his emotions while being with other people because nobody knows about his longing secret about being attracted to Oliver. I did not feel like Chalamet was acting at certain points because I felt like he disappeared into another actual and different human being, speaking three different languages. Armie Hammer has given his strongest performance since The Social Network in which his career has been unfortunately mixed. You can see some exuberance, doubt and vulnerability inside his character especially in connecting with Chalamet's character. I want to give a shout out to Michael Stuhlbarg who deserves a best supporting actor Oscar nomination as the father as there is an unexpected monologue scene towards the end that was quite earned and thought-provoking. It opened a different path to what I thought about the father character. And, actually, that scene between Stuhlbarg and Chalamet is what geared it to be a four-star review.
Luca Guadagnino's direction is quite mesmerizing and powerful as it really displays the Italian scenery with such lush authenticity. Sometimes, his camera work does not stop as he pinpoints what the characters are doing even with such detail. The screenplay by James Ivory evokes some subtle emotion between certain characters that becomes more human than artificial, especially in the last scene. The last shot of the movie is utterly harrowing as you feel for the character. Based on the novel by André Aciman, Guadagnino transcends his novel into something quietly powerful and thought-provoking as you study the characters of what they are going through. This is quite surprising on how good this movie is.
****
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