Movie Review Call Me By Your Name

Call me By Your Name (2017) 

Directed by Luca Guadagnino 

Written by James Ivory 

Starring Armie Hammer, Timothee Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amina Casar 

Release Date November 24th, 2017 

Luca Guadagnino is the poet of idle sexuality. His A Bigger Splash captured the sadness and tragedy of lost love while barely raising its pulse above that of the luxurious, idyllic location, a beachfront European coast where clocks don’t seem to exist. Yes, that film has a tragedy in it that drives the engine of the plot but Guadagnino’s interest lies not with exploring that tragedy but in lingering within the lives of people whose path is toward tragedy, but not a journey defined by that tragedy.

Guadagnino’s latest movie, Call Me By Your Name, appears to be on the same path as A Bigger Splash but has more ambition. Call Me By Your Name is a coming of age romance that mirrors the setting of A Bigger Splash, Guadagnino’s home country of Italy, but the film eschews the notion of a typical narrative aiming toward a conclusion that ties the narrative in a fashion that resembles a movie ending.

Call Me By Your Name stars Timothee Chalamet as Elio, the son of Academics, Lyle and Annella Perlman (Michael Stuhlbarg and Amira Casar). Elio’s life is made up of long swims, hikes, brief encounters with Marzia (Esther Garrel), his would be girlfriend, and the hours he spends listening to classical music and writing out the notes he hears in longhand, one of the more unique hobbies I’ve seen in a film character.

Elio’s teenage Idyll is upended by the arrival of his father’s grad-student assistant Oliver (Army Hammer). Oliver has taken over Elio’s bedroom and immediately begins to invade his thoughts. For the first time in his young life, Elio is looking at a man sexually and it creates an immediate tension between he and Oliver whose attempts at being friendly to Elio only seem to complicate matters further.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal 

Classic Movie Review The Remains of the Day

The Remains of the Day (1993) 

Directed by James Ivory 

Written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Harold Pinter 

Starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Christopher Reeve 

Release Date November 5th 1993 

Published November 16th, 2023 

When I was growing up my perception of Merchant Ivory films was that they were homework. The names were synonymous with glowing critical reviews and awards shows. Merchant Ivory made prestige pictures and I was not a fan of prestige pictures. You could not have convinced me to watch a Merchant Ivory movie when I was a teenager. I would sooner give up soda and baseball cards than watch a movie like The Remains of the Day, a British post-war drama of quiet and methodical precision and melodrama. I would sooner stop playing Nintendo than watch a Merchant Ivory movie. I was as immature as any other teenager. 

But now I am an adult. I have more refined tastes. I watch foreign films and I write lengthy articles about the duality of the movie All About Eve or the hypnotic beauty and pacing of a Sophia Coppola movie. Surely, in middle age I will have reached a place where I find a Merchant Ivory movie appealing. Surely, an Oscar nominated film like The Remains of the Day will find new meaning for me as a grown man. But, Sadly, no. I find The Remains of the Day as tedious and boring as I likely would have as a teenager. I'm sorry, I just don't get what anyone sees in this movie. I've been told by older critics and friends of my mother, essentially boomers, that this is the height of sophisticated drama and I just don't buy it. 

The Remains of the Day stars Anthony Hopkins as Stevens, the head of the staff at stately Darlington Manor. He's a butler, just like his father before him and he takes pride in his position. Keeping an orderly house and a mannerly staff is a point of great pride for Stevens. And he values employees who feel a similar sense of pride. When he hires a new head maid, Miss Sarah 'Sally' Kenton (Emma Thompson), he finds a kindred spirit. She also values an orderly house and a well managed staff and together they serve the master of the house, The Earl of Darlington (James Fox). 

In flashback we are taken to prior to the start of World War 2. Darlington is the center of political intrigue. Big English politicians come to Darlington to quietly debate over what to do about the growing threat of Germany. We will come to find out that Lord Darlington is on the side of appeasement, a side that will not fare well when the war comes to England and will be nearly wiped out once the war ends. The other half of The Remains of the Day is set in post-war where Stephens is now working for a former American Congressman (Christopher Reeve) and he's seeking to rehire Sally who'd left years earlier over Lord Darlington's stance on appeasing the Germans. 

She was greatly upset when Lord Darlington welcomes German officials to the manor and prior to their arrival, he has Stephens fire a pair of young Jewish maids so as not to upset his visitors. The firing is a large part of what causes Sally to accept a proposal from a suitor, a middle-class businessman who offers her the chance to join him in opening an Inn. The other part of her reasoning is being upset with Stevens for willingly allowed the young and desperately poor maids to be fired. The rupture in their relationship becomes the subject of the final act of The Remains of the Day. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media