Sony Pictures Classics
For years I have been trying to obtain an Italian passport to no avail. Instead of getting a new stamp in a shiny second passport, I’ve spent my days in my one-bedroom apartment dreaming of my so cruelly denied Italian life. Like a temptation, a dare, Luca Guadagnio’s adapation of the Andre Aciman novel, Call Me By Your Name (2017), is filling my screen again with visions of the Italian countryside, complete with lively family meals, and a seductive budding romance. This is the escape I need with the rolling hills of Italy, the fountains, the sidewalk cafes, and the secret berms where each new sensual location reveals a hidden truth. I know a rewatch will throw me headlong into a deep well of first love, angst, longing, sexual exploration, and heartbreak but I cannot resist. My only escape as of late has been to the local Whole Foods. So damn the heartbreak, Elio. Break us free from the monotony of an Italian summer, Oliver. We’ve earned daydreams of big loves and big destinations. Until I can get a stamp in my long-neglected passport, the movie and soundtrack, both exquisite, lush and full of desire, will have to do.