A bad attempt on what could have been an unforgettable summer love story. "Call Me by Your Name" fails in every aspect of It. It's dull, empty and forced.
From beginning to end there's no exploration of any kind. The characters don't have the depth they should have which makes the love story lacking dynamism and vivacity.
The first part of the movie is tedious and uninteresting. An hour of unnecessary scenes, that could easily be cut out, with brief dialogs of direct questions/answers, without emotions or sensibility from any character. A missed opportunity to invest in the character denseness and build their relationship. The movie doesn't give enough space for the sensations and attraction between them to evolve and, with that, we end up not caring, at all, with their bonding. All we see is a shallow relationship based, purely, in sexual encounters.
Less is more so it would have been great to see that. Less scenes, less scenarios and less dull actions and conversations. It's a movie that should concentrate merely in the connection between them and not on how beautiful the background is or how kind and aware Elio's parents are. The minor characters are completely pointless and don't bring absolutely nothing to the film.
The only positive aspect is Timothée Chalamat, In the second part of the film. He really pushes Elio's character and ends up with a very solid and strong performance. The ending shot was absolutely breathtaking. Apart from Timothée's acting, Sufjan Stevens enhanced this scene with "Mistery of Love", making one of the best ending scenes of the year. Undeniably, he deserves to win Best Original Song at the 90th Academy Awards.