“Call Me By Your Name” absolutely broke me, and I’m begging you to go and see it

The mark of a good movie is one that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater. However lately, with today’s often bland movie landscape, most of the time you’ve already forgotten everything before the credits even roll. What was the last movie that really stuck with you, for not just hours afterwards, but days – even weeks? I saw Call Me By Your Name roughly four weeks ago, and every day for the last four weeks, I’ve thought about it multiple times throughout the day.

This is why I’m here now, and asking — better yet, begging — you go to and see it, since Call Me By Your Name is nothing short of an absolute modern masterpiece. That language is not hyperbolic; it’s simply the truth.

The movie is based off of a book by the same name, written by André Aciman and published back in 2007. Since then, it’s gone on to receive widespread acclaim and admiration for those who have picked it up. Now, with this new film by Luca Guadagnino and starring Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet, it can reach an even broader audience, and truly garner the utmost love it deserves.

Maybe the best thing about the movie is that it’s the simplest plot in the world — it’s a love story.  But, this is no boy meets girl story. Rather, this story is: Boy meets his dad’s new research assistant who is staying with his family somewhere in Northern Italy for the summer. Boy and the research assistant start to bond, leading to a friendship, and then a close friendship, and then they become intimate. The boy here, Elio, is played by Chalamet with Hammer taking on the role of research assistant, Oliver.

Their love story plays out against the dreamy, picturesque landscape of Italy, and it looks like the most perfect postcard your relatives have ever sent you. It’s impossible not to feel transposed to these locations yourself, and yearn for a beautiful, sunny day somewhere by a lake.

And while the film is downright gorgeous, that’s not why you’re completely hooked to Call Me By Your Name. The loves tory between Elio and Oliver is maybe the best love story on screen in recent years, because it is so honest and pure. There’s literally no BS between them, as if this were some rom-com and the movie leads us to believe aww shucks, maybe they won’t make it after all. There’s no token guy/girl best friend to offer lame advice, or some big ~event~ to culminate the movie. Rather, it’s just a love story between these two that plays out over trips to the town, the swimming hole, and the dinner table. When was the last time you saw two people fall in love without a bunch of bells and whistles?

Honestly, I think *I* feel in love over the course of the movie. Not with anyone in particular; the movie just made me feel the idea of love for roughly two hours. Just sitting in the theater, it made me feel raw, and honest, and like my soul was being cleansed. I felt transposed to a completely different state of being, and I know I cried during the movie — but it wasn’t because I was sad. It was because I felt so moved. I can’t remember any movie that’s done that before. Has a movie ever done that to me before? Well, now it has, and there’s a strong chance it’ll do the same to you.

Call Me By Your Name is now playing in Los Angles and New York City.