FILM 1744: CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

FILM 1744: CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

TRIVIA: Timothée Chalamet learned to speak Italian and to play the piano for the role of Elio.

On its premiere night, Call Me By Your Name (2017) received a ten-minute standing ovation, which was the longest standing ovation ever at the New York Film Festival.

The entire film (including the opening credits) was shot with a single 35mm lens.

There was only one rehearsal before shooting. In multiple interviews, Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer said that director Luca Guadagnino asked them one day to come outside to do a rehearsal in the backyard of the villa. They walked to a patch of grass and flipped their scripts to a randomly selected scene to practice. When they opened the script, the page only read, "Elio and Oliver roll around in the grass making out." Chalamet and Hammer looked at each other and said, "Alright, let's go!" Just seconds into the making out scene, however, Guadagnino stepped in and directed them to act more "passionately." So they started making out and continued to do so, and no one told them to stop. Eventually, the two actors stopped, looked around and realized Guadagnino had just walked away, leaving them rolling around in the grass. This was their only rehearsal.

Despite various sexual scenes in the film, Armie Hammer stated in an interview that the most uncomfortable he ever felt during filming was when he was filming the dance scenes.

In the book, Elio is 17 years old and Oliver is 24. Timothée Chalamet was 20 years old when the film was shot, while Armie Hammer was 29. The film is set in Italy, and the age of consent in the country is 14.

The film is dedicated to actor Bill Paxton, who died in February 2017. Brian Swardson, the husband of one of the film's producers, Peter Spears, was Bill Paxton's best friend and agent. He is also the agent for Timothée Chalamet. Paxton visited the set in Italy and became friends with director Luca Guadagnino. Guadagnino decided to honor Paxton by dedicating the film to him.

Based on the book "Call me by your name" written by André Aciman, the author himself appears in the movie as Mounir.

BOOK 148: THE DROWNING OF ARTHUR BRAXTON: CAROLINE SMAILES

BLURB: An urban fairy tale from the acclaimed author of 99 Reasons Why.

Arthur Braxton runs away from school.

He hides out in an abandoned building, an old Edwardian bathhouse.

He discovers a naked woman swimming in the pool.

From this point on, nothing will ever be the same.

The Drowning of Arthur Braxton is an unflinching account of the pain and trauma of adolescence and of how first love can transform the most unhappy of lives into something miraculous. It is a dark and brooding modern fairy tale from one of our most gifted writers.

REVIEW: I’m going to keep this short, and so I probably wont do this justice.  First of all I am too old for this book.  It is a teenager’s book, one of those ones with sex and swearing in to make it really appealing to the teens, make them feel like they’re doing something a bit naughty when they read it.  The word ‘cock’ was used, in my opinion, far too many times and as an adult I found it juvenile. However the book it narrated by teenagers, so then one could argue that the writer really does have an ear for the way teenage boys speak. And they do say cock a lot.

Many who read it describe this book as an urban fairy tale but I think it’s missing something that a fairy tale should have, it’s missing heart.  And I agree with many reviewers that Laurel (a criminally underused character that you start to connect with in the first chapter) is the most (or only) appealing character in the whole thing.

However, despite my criticisms, I did read this quickly and despite the fact that I knew what would happen in the end (Clue: it’s in the title) I did want to read the whole thing and it did keep me engaged. I must say it wasn’t what I was expecting but it was a quick read especially since the chapters with dialogue were laid out as a script and without the added nuisance of he said/she said, a technique I would like to see more often if I’m honest but also found quite lazy writing, I’m torn by this book, I am. Read it, you’ll either be confused or you’ll love it.

(A side note: If I’m honest, I didn’t like Arthur Braxton, I know teenage boys can be like this, but they don’t have to be, you should feel sorry for him, he’s going through a terrible time but you don’t because he’s a twat (and this is what he calls himself.)

http://blog.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/?p=29930

http://www.missmoss.co.za/2014/10/07/clare-elsaesser/