Poised to be the LGBT drama of the year, Sony Pictures Classics has released the first trailer for their major Sundance pick-up Call Me By Your Name. Directed by Italian auteur Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love, A Bigger Splash), this film is looking to put the little known filmmaker on the map, and based on the first trailer, the film will have a similar effect on young actor Timothée Chalamet (Ms. Stevens). The film wowed critics at Sundance and continues to pick up awards speed as it hurtles toward its November 24 release.
Call Me By Your Name is based on the novel by André Aciman and follows the budding relationship between Elio (Chalamet), a 17-year-old living in 1980s Itlay, and Oliver (Armie Hammer), a 24-year-old academic who has comic to study under Elio’s father at their villa over the summer. The trailer paints the story as both coming-of-age and coming into sexuality, as the heat of summer and heat of repressed desires collide.
Last year, Guadagnino made his English-language debut at Sundance with A Bigger Splash, a film that I praised as a masterpiece in my review, saying, “Every creative element reveals new depths of meaning and ultimately creates an entirely satisfying and intrinsically unprecedented sensory experience.” Call Me By Your Name has so far been hailed as the filmmaker’s greatest work and it will be intriguing to see how he can top his previous outings.
See the trailer below and watch out for its limited release this fall as it is sure to continue turning heads.