Call Me By Your Name Called a 'Masterpiece'

Call Me By Your Name takes viewers to northern Italy in the summer of 1983, where 17-year-old Elio (recent Golden Globe nominee Timothee Chalamet) meets 24-year-old American graduate student Oliver (Armie Hammer) and, well, things heat up. The film by Luca Guadagnino, adapted from the novel by Andre Aciman, has a 96% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Their thoughts:

• The film is a "generous, sensitive adaptation" of Aciman's novel, benefited by the "ridiculous chemistry" of Hammer and 22-year-old Chalamet, who gives a "beautiful, complex performance." These are just a few of the “million reasons why Call Me By Your Name is far and away the best movie of the year," writes Christy Lemire at RogerEbert.com, who also calls the film "a lush and vibrant masterpiece."
• It's "a powerfully erotic and affecting love story, albeit one so closely and intimately observed that the term 'slow burn' seems almost inadequate," writes Justin Chang at the Los Angeles Times. "The undercurrents of lust, intrigue, jealousy and sexual anxiety flickering between Elio and Oliver are observed with a precision and playfulness that verge on the Hitchcockian," he adds, but it's the film's "compassion and wry wisdom … that catch you off-guard."

• It's "a spellbinding, almost ecstatically beautiful movie" that's "almost sinfully enjoyable," to boot, writes Ann Hornaday at the Washington Post. The "timeless" coming-of-age tale "acknowledges the purity and sculptural beauty of youth" but adds plenty of erotic tension. Chalamet brings it all together with "a note-perfect combination of cocky self-assurance and wary naiveté," Hornaday writes.
• "Chalamet delivers one of the year's best performances" in a film simple in its subject matter, writes Rafer Guzman at Newsday. "It's about two people and their feelings"—"erotic yet never graphic, heartfelt yet highly stylized." Two scenes to watch out for: one featuring "an eyebrow-raising use of a peach," and another in which Elio's father (Michael Stuhlbarg) "gives a lovely monologue with such purity of emotion that it's almost breathtaking."

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