The movie Call Me By Your Name, directed by Luca Guadagnino and produced in 2017, begins with a family named The Perlmans in Lombardy, Italy in the 1980s. The Perlman family hosts American students from overseas every summer. Elio Perlman, the son and main character, is played by Timothée Chalamet. Elio’s father greets an American student named Oliver, played by Armie Hammer. Oliver explores a bit, eventually finding his way around their home and into his room. Elio and Oliver meet and are roommates.

The story-line between Elio and Oliver is a rough, patchy love story. The movie shows a teenager who struggles with his sexuality and finding out his true identity. In one scene, Elio has a breakdown, which causes him and Oliver to become closer near the end of the scene. Throughout the movie, Elio and Oliver spend time together and begin falling in love. The two end up under a tree, wondering why they didn’t talk sooner before Oliver had to leave back for America.

They end up becoming inseparable until Oliver finally leaves for America. The movie purposefully ends with a cliffhanger, as there will be a sequel to Call Me By Your Name. Many speculate that the second film will be named “And I’ll Call You By Mine”, as it was a part of the infamous quote during the film. As the sequel will cover the last few pages of the book that were left out, it flashes forward about 15 years, making everything different and the characters more mature and grown up.

The actors did a fantastic job of playing their characters and working with the story-line. If I had to choose a favorite scene, it would be hard to do so, because the actors never once broke character or lost their charm. Even their clothing was right on the mark, along with the way they spoke the languages and the script had so much passion infused into the words. The soundtrack of the film features beautiful and airy music, causing it to feel like the film was coming to life right in front of your eyes. The cinematography was astounding and featured some amazing B-Roll of Italy. One of my favorite scenes is when the two actors are bike riding and you just see the sky, grass, and the two bike riding; the camera stays in one spot showing the audience the view of nature while seeing the characters riding off into the sun.

I recommend this movie for anyone who loves romantic love stories or just LGBTQ+ movies as it was very enlightening on the struggles of being homosexual and finding love while also finding your true identity. The film was praised by many, even getting the longest standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival in New York Film Festival history. Call Me By Your Name made me feel a mixed-bag of emotions, from happy to distressed to content. The actors did an amazing job winning numerous awards for the film.