Will "Call Me By Your Name" Be Ignored by Oscar?
Wednesday, January 3, 2018 at 6:23PM The following article was originally published in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad. It's reprinted here with some updates...
Though you might feel like you’ve been hearing “Oscar buzz” for months, it’s always good to be reminded that timetables are askew and “buzz” is a lot faster/noisier than the real thing. Academy members don’t actually start filling out their nomination ballots until Friday morning!
They’ll have one week to determine which movies and performances are in the running for the industry’s most coveted golden statues. Each year some adult-oriented movies risk going wide without Oscar’s blessing while others lay in wait, banking on Oscar favor to help sell them to a wider audience. One of the pictures that’s trying the lay-low-until-Oscar game is the gay coming-of-age drama Call Me By Your Name. Though it’s been in theaters for six weeks it still hasn’t expanded past major markets and is only on 115 screens (stateside) at this writing. It’s poised to become either one of the biggest Oscar players or one of the most “snubbed”. So this seems as good a time as any to share some anxiety about it...
Just two days after writing this piece in fact, Mark Harris tweeted the following confirming my suspicion that some Oscar voters just aren't going for it:
Talking to Oscar voters and the two worst things I'm hearing right now are, "I liked Get Out, but...come on" and "I liked Call Me By Your Name, but we did that last year." And if they're saying that to ME, they're saying it. 1/
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) January 3, 2018
When it comes to Oscar freaks, it’s more than easy to put yourself in the nervous emotional headspace of teenage protagonist Elio (Timothée Chalamet). After all what awards fanatic hasn't spent too much time overanalyzing future nominations and snubs? It's not unlike any average young person's tireless obsessing over seismic romantic infatuations and first loves... albeit on a less personal but more renewable scale with the slate wiped clean each year.
But over to the movie...
For those who haven’t read the bestseller by Andre Aciman, a very brief synopsis of the story of Call Me By Your Name — don’t worry about spoilers, as it is resolutely not a plot movie. Young Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is a sophisticated precocious teen who lives with his professor parents in Italy. His father (Michael Stuhlbarg) is an art historian and each summer hires a new mentee/assistant to lodge with the family and help him with his work. They usually come and go without disturbing Elio much but for the fact that he has to give up his room each time.
This summer, presumably his last at home, is different. The tall handsome inscrutable Oliver (Armie Hammer) arrives and Elio’s curiousity gives way to lust and infatuation and deeper feeling as the two slowly become romantically involved. That’s it. That’s the plot. Again: it’s not a plot movie. It’s a feelings movie, an evocation. And as such it lives or dies by whether or not it moves you emotionally.
So the only way to talk about it, at least for me is personally. Strangely a few months after first seeing the movie I’m still in this raw space about it, anxious not just as to whether each friend who sees it will like it (most have but the stubbornly unmoved and even glibly dismissive do exist!) but whether Oscar, at large, will. Which I realize is ridiculous but, then, Oscar has burned its gay fans before.
I’ll confess straightaway that the first time I saw Call Me I was less than totally entranced. At first. The movie is as slim as Elio’s frequently shirtless teen physique (summer is hot in Italy!). It skips quietly and elegantly across brief scenes like a flat stone over water. It shimmers but I wanted it to dive in beneath the surface and try to see the underneath. As sometimes happens in the lead up to Oscar season, hype and buzz (plus reading the novel beforehand) all led to a curious case of looking at the movie from outside of it, rather than being inside the experience (I’m not proud of this, just stating the facts).
Elio and parents
And yet I was not prepared for the undertow. When the movie wound down, a deflation if you will with summer’s end, it suddenly pulled me under. One wordless scene with Elio and his mother had me immediately tearing up. Driving him home one day she touches his hair affectionately but says nothing, just letting her son ache; she gives him the space to feel whatever he’s feeling without prying. It brought me back vividly to moments just as loaded with my mother, though her own silence was for entirely different and, sadly, less non-judgemental reasons.
Then came the movies thesis statement, if you will, an elegant monologue perfectly delivered by an Oscar-worthy Michael Stuhlbarg as Elio’s father. This speech plays almost like fantasy, how so many of us might have wished our own fathers could have processed our queerness and, thus, helped us to grow up. And yet Stuhlbarg plays the scene so gently and it’s so unadorned by Luca Guadagnino’s smart direction, that it feels less like a Fantasy and more like Reality, Improved.
And the emotional gut punches don’t stop coming once the movie gets you… or you allow yourself to be pulled under its sun-dappled surface. I encourage you to stay through the end credits as the film’s final shot is a glorious culmination of the film’s ability to just be in its most piercing moments, without crowding or rushing them. The final scene also allows the revelatory Timothée Chalamet to fully earn the Oscar statue (that we don’t expect he’ll win but not from lack of acting his face off). It’s one of the most perfect and resonant endings I’ve personally ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot of movies.
Despite the movie’s immediate melancholy sting, it’s richer on multiple viewings. Chalamet’s performance is a exquisite rendering of something that’s universal (first love/obsession) but rarely depicted with this much lush sensitivity and intelligence. The movie, as a whole, is a less familiar sensation unless summering in Italy with intellectuals is your thing. But Call Me By Your Name is still supremely intimate, conjuring up memories and associations so personal you’re alarmed that it’s calling you by yours.
So how will it fare at the Oscars?
It’s anyone’s guess but it would be absolutely shocking if it weren’t nominated for both Best Actor for Timothée Chalamet and Best Adapted Screenplay for James Ivory. The screenplay, brilliantly devoid of the kind of voiceover which would normally be all over a delicate movie like this cheapening it at every turn, might be the film’s best shot at an Oscar win. Ivory, the legendary director behind classics like Howards End, A Room With a View, Maurice, Remains of the Day has shockingly never won an Oscar despite multiple nominations and he’s 89 years old now. Other Oscar nomination possibilities that feel possible if not remotely locked up are Picture, Director (Luca Guadagnino), and maybe Cinematography. If the Academy really goes for it, the film could earn a hefty nomination tally by adding a nod for Sufjan Stevens in Original Song and one or two nominations in Best Supporting Actor with Armie Hammer and Michael Stulhbarg both long-shot possibilities. (Hammer, is of course a leading man — and top billed no less! — but Oscar’s fondness for putting leads in supporting is well-noted and much groused about here so we don't wanna dwell).
Let’s all hope the Academy embraces it. The Foreign film committee has already tragically dismissed 2017’s best LGBT picture France’s potent sexy masterful AIDS activism drama BPM (Beats Per Minute) from the Oscar running and with such a rich year in queer cinema just passed (see also Princess Cyd, Battle of the Sexes, God's Own Country, A Fantastic Woman, Beach Rats), last year’s Best Picture winner Moonlight need not be a queer fluke.
Reader Comments (43)
I agree with you that the film grows upon subsequent viewings, but I'm not sure if voters will afford the film that benefit. I think it will likely be snubbed for picture and director. Beyond the reasons already mentioned, there is also some people's uneasiness over the age difference between Elio and Oliver. With the Kevin Spacey scandal so fresh in voters' minds that will probably hurt its chances. Even some gays on Twitter have rejected the film over this. The honest truth is that many gay men's first sexual experience were with men older than them. For most it was consensual and then there are the ones that are predatory. The one depicted in the film is obviously the former but some folks refuse to see that these things can be relative. In a weird way I think the film will benefit from being snubbed in some categories. If as expected Chalamet and Ivory are nominated, the film's ardent supporters will rally for it in those categories.
I actually think it's safer than Get Out.
It could very well go the way of Carol and receive major nominations across the board (Actor, Supporting Actor, Screenplay, Cinematography, Original Song) but be snubbed in picture/director, but the literary feel and surprisingly old-fashioned romantic scope of the film harkened back to Ivory's classic films like A Room with a View and Howards End, which I think will definitely appeal to the section of the Academy who appreciates those movies.
I think those who object to the minimal age-gaps between Elio and Oliver is a much more limited group than what people are saying - homophobic, hard right-wingers like James Woods and overtly-PC and sensitive people.
Get Out feels like the type of massively successful, audience-friendly film that vastly underperforms on Oscar morning and starts a media/public rage stroke (like what happened with The Dark Knight, Wall-E, etc.). It definitely has fans and is definitely in the cultural zeitgeist now, but it will have an uphill battle with the old-school, stodgy members of the Academy who were more taken with a film like The Reader than The Dark Knight. It'll probably have enough support to get a picture nomination, but I don't think Jordan Peele is at all safe in director, nor Daniel Kaluuya in best actor.
If both of those films get snubbed, then the Oscars become less exciting and becomes booty.
I won’t be surprised if Timothee Chalamet ends up not being nominated and this seems like a very big possibility. Just look at the names he is competing against - Oldman, Day-Lewis, Hanks, Washington, and even James Franco. I will be very pleasantly surprised if he gets nominated.
As for Arnie Hammer, this guy deserves a nomination. Period. Unfortunately methinks he isn’t getting one.
The only nomination I can think of for this beautiful movie is Screenplay.
Thanks, Nathaniel, for this. Have you seen the amazing raves for “Call Me by Your Name” from Barry Jenkins, Pedro Almodovar, Frank Ocean and Bret Easton Ellis, just to name the ones I’ve seen in the last few days? Ellis calls Chalamet’s performance “peerless” and makes the case that the film is a landmark, “a big progressive leap forward in gay cinema’s depiction of desire.” The film deserves to be as much a Hollywood cultural phenomenon as “Brokeback Mountain” once was centuries ago.
If this is ignored, then it will be riot given "by me"!!
Hell, I cannot even begin to describe how in bad mood makes me Luca Guadagnino is already being ingnored in the discussion. Tha man has made his best directed film by far!
My modest contribution here to this peerless gem: https://letterboxd.com/moviegoergeek/film/call-me-by-your-name/
As best pic likely has 9 or 10 nominees, I wld say tt Call Me n Get Out are still safe...
Peele seems a more likely nominee than Luca. I wld say Peele is at the 5th or 6th position, while Luca, 7th or 8th.
Chalamet is riding high now n i won't b surprised if he took the Globes this sun instead o Oldman..
IMO, pic, actor, screenplay, song noms are still safe bets for Call Me, while supp actor n cinematography are the borderline cases.
I do hope the gorgeous sun kissed cinematography get recognized 😁
Thanks for your articulate thoughts here, Nathaniel. My experience watching the film was exactly the same, and it has stewed and blossomed in my heart like the emotional memories triggered of a first romance breathed and ached Years before. I was gobsmacked by Timothee. Chalamet- it’s the performance of the year for me. I hope it and the film are remembered Oscar nomination morning.
At worst, I'm seeing it only getting Actor and Adapted Screenplay. "Carol" is a great film but it IS a bit on the "chilly" side. "Call Me By Your Name" is more openly emotionally resonant.
I think Fasano's editing seem a little disjointed upon first viewing (at least, in the first act) due to the trailer practically giving away most scenes happening within the first 30 minutes.
A second look, what Nick Davis aptly described as "rushed" seemed less so. In fact, I think the film's "carefree" nature might match Elio's one. He's livewire, restless, to say the least. Only when he opens up, the rythm of the film settles. And I think this was studied as much as Carol's circular/shot-reverse shot structure was. You can't view that on first look. This movie is gorgeous.
So it's practically anathema to say ACE didn't give this film a second look. That's why I'm afraid. CMBYN needs to be seen twice to appreciate its many technical marvels.
There's a scene early in the thisrd act when rain starts pouring down around the house, and there's a short cut to the garden and vegetation fully alive with colors. It's amazing how vividly Guadgnino works with these bits across the movie. I could almost feel the humidity and smell it.
It also works as paucity. Oliver has dissapeared for a while and Elio's anxiety clashes with the weather outside. He's literally trapped at home.
I do hope Hammer gets it. He told Andy Cohen this morning that his mother will not be seeing the movie, based on Religious Objections, but he felt he couldn't possibly not try for this film, as an actor and as a human.
I hope he gets in. It's still holding me 6 days later. Lovely movie.
AND it's a good travelogue for Italy. Near Lake Como, you say.....
Oscars likes his ladies young and gentlemen older. It's a shame since Chalamet should be wrestling with the likes of Nahuel Perez Bizcayart and Robert Pattinson for best actor. In an ideal world, sigh.
chofer - Oscars likes his ladies young and gentlemen older. It's a shame since Chalamet should be wrestling with the likes of Nahuel Perez Bizcayart and Robert Pattinson for best actor. In an ideal world, sigh.
Yes!!!
Roger
Still a Man's Man's World. Changing a lil bit. That give me hope for Chalamet/Ronan. Although I would very happy Sally Hawkins pulls the upset.
Oldman and McDormand makes me cringe (I love Frances, just not in THAT film)
And Oldman already did his best make up impersonation in Bram Stocker's Dracula: two decades ago.
Thanks from me too, Nathaniel. This is my favourite film of the year and the best new film I've seen in the past four or five years.
It is an eccentric film. For a coming-of-age film and a love story, it does so many things in unexpected ways. And that helps it get under the skin. I also feel that Timothée Chalamet's performance is remarkable. He is so emotionally honest it hurts. He is amazing.
I was sorry the ACE didn't nominate the editing, though that's not to take away from the nominees. But the editing in Call Me By Your Name is a strength - it allows the summer to work its magic and desire to take its time but it also keeps the story and the feelings moving, knowing that time is marching on. The dissolves are exquisitely chosen.
I could go on, but I'll get onto the Oscar chances. Over the years I've endured numerous disappointments when films I really liked didn't get Oscar recognition. (Haven't we all!) And I do hope Call Me By Your Name does well. What Mark Harris mentions is worrying. And the film has underperformed in some of the precursors. I'm getting a slight Mulholland Drive vibe: a strong critics showing, but ultimately fewer Oscar nominations than it deserved. I hope that doesn't happen to Call Me By Your Name. But if it does: nothing can take away from the achievements of this beautiful movie. We have it to enjoy and to return to for the rest of our lives.
I doubt it will be ignored it's the token gay movie of award season and classic Oscar bait material . I have not seen it yet- but I'm sure it will get at least a best adapted screenplay nomination.
The comments I have heard range from lushly inert to not a good time because of the Spacey scandal. I do think Timothée will get in but I am less confident about other nominations.
Marie & Raul -- i feel like the "kevin spacey" thing connecting to this movie (an actor who has zero relationships to this movie) which i keep hearing from people is lazy internet homophobia -- not saying that you're homophobic ! -- just that this has been spread around so much that it feels like the internet is engaging in widespread lazy homphobia because the two things have nothing in common other than that both are about gay men.
I certainly hope Chalamet gets the nomination and wins. That last shot, where he tells us with his face everything we could possibly want him to "say" is the best facial performance since Glenn Close's reaction to John Malkovich's news in front of the mirror in Dangeours Liaisons. I haven't seen Gary Oldman's movie, but enough with the prosthetics!
Marcos, I saw “Darkest Hour” and Oldman’s face is so rubberized as to be soulless. He reminded me of a Gumby. I absolutely do not get the thrill of this kind of performance in 2018. It doesn’t help that Oldman’s politics are reactionary and that he’s playing one of the great 20th-century saviors of democracy at a time when democracy itself is failing. Watching that film and “Dunkirk,” I thought, “What was the point of all that triumphant self-congratulation if the fascists ended up returning via an assclown in the White House and a lobotomized populace soaked by the greedy rich?”
My favorite film scene of last year was no doubt Elio and Oliver's final phone conversation. Haunts me still.
If they don't nominate Timothee, then AMPAS really is messed up. These are, after all, finally acting awards. And he gave the best male lead performance by a rustic Italian mile. Screenplay is also safe. I do think the final tally in other categories will be lacking, which is sad for this magical milestone. I hope I'm wrong.
Call Me By your Name is a glorious achievement. The movie stayed with me for days after I saw it, and I hope it has the same effect on Oscar voters. I dont think I could process the entire movie while watching it, it was only after the credits rolled that I realized how sublime it is.
Chalamet is more than deserving of an Oscar Nomination, if he manages to win one of the more widely seen precursors and gives the kind of speech that puts him in Yhe adorable Gabby Sidibe bracket, I think The race for the oscar could become neck to neck. Surprisingly, considering how people had locked Oldman for a win since July, he hasn’t been much of a sweep like say Helen Mirren for the Queen when it was decided that it was her year.
I’m so sad for Fasano’s snub at ACE. I just love his work here. (He was my win last year for A Bigger Splash, and could be mine again this year).
I hope CMBYN gets many nominations. I’m fearful a bit.
By the way, Nathaniel, don't you think it's ironic that this year (with CMBYN) the top is in supporting and the bottom in lead. Usually, and you've written about it, it's the other way around.
Also, is there someplace where I can get Elio on the phone going “Elio Elio Elio” as a ringtone for my phone lol.
The promo rounds that Chalamet, Hammer, and Guadagnino have been doing are textbook. There's a narrative around the friendship between the two leads, there's the story of their first rehearsal where Luca just told them to make out in a field, and they made out until they realized he had walked away. I think of how Emma Stone's power point presentation story was such a big part of her campaign last year, and this film seems to be the only one employing that kind of technique in it's campaign.
Ultimately, this feels like a boom or bust situation for me. I think it'll either land 9 nominations:
Picture,
Director,
Actor,
Screenplay,
Supporting Actor x2
Cinematography
Original Song x2
or just two:
Screenplay + one of the three acting noms.
I've long since separated my feelings from what oscar recognizes, but this movie hit me hard and I'm hoping it lands well with the academy.
I WILL RIOT IF THIS IS SNUBBED
Bitch don't pat yourself just because you did "this" last year
NOMS FOR ALL CATEGORIES FOR ALL I CARE FOR CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
As someone who didn't enjoy Call Me By Your Name nearly as much as the rest of you, I concede that it would be unfortunate for the Academy not to honor it where warranted because parts of it are truly beautiful. This whole notion that they've "been there and done that already" -- whatever "there" is -- is undoubtedly preposterous considering that, for instance, Darkest Hour is The Imitation Game is The King's Speech is The Queen as far as I'm concerned. And let's not even get into the years of de-glammed Best Actress winners we had to endure for better or worse.
I'm sure that Mark Harris's interactions were a mere sample of voter mindset, but the fact that any of them at all think they're being gracious by throwing bones to films about the experiences of marginalized groups every few years is a problem.
I saw CMBYN with an open mind, but I'd have to say that I was underwhelmed. I wanted this to be a relevant 'love story' like BBMountain/Moonlight/Carol, but it pushed me away more than pulled me in. The tears from Elio at the end reflected my tears that I missed something. I wasn't really convinced that this boy was curious/bi/gay - oh, there's a Robert M. poster on his wall, but he has a girlfriend. I found it to be filled with more creepy sex (the swimsuit on his head/Arnie's pre-peach thing in the doorway). When Elio was shirtless - he seems so scrawny that he resembled a 15 y/o. When I'm more interested in the Italian scenery than the characters, something must be up. I only woke up when the father had his talk with the son. That seemed real. The 'good-bye' train scene - was this supposed to be like Since You Went Away or Summertime? I think that I would've enjoy this more if the father had something going on - then they'd be immediate conflict.
As for Get Out - that's shaping to be the 'Crash' of this decade. It has 'the topic we must all discuss', but should it win Best Picture, I believe 10-15 down the road, critics will be analyzing Best Picture Winners and proclaim 'What were we thinking?'
I haven’t seen Call Me By Your Name yet (although I read the book and thiught it was amateurish at best), hence I will not comment on it. But I think Get Out is the one movie that will be shut out at nomination morning. I thought it was disjointed, with the satire and scary parts crashing and not meshing.
I still think it will be The Post vs. Dunkirk for the Best Pic win.
TOM
Get Out to be the Crash of this decade?? You gotta be freaking kidding!!
CM's release schedule has been so stingy that I'll be lucky if I see this on an airline-seat screen. I've grown tired of waiting for it and will be rooting for something else.
Nat and other lay out valid concerns about this movie's Oscar chances, but I think there's another one. How many voters will watch the screener at home instead of going to a theater? I'm sure the movie is gorgeous either way, but I fear watching it on TV at home will make it feel small and minor. You just won't get the immersive experience you would from the big screen (call it the "Lost in Translation" problem).
Of course, what WOULD help is if it was doing well at the box office but they've been so stingy about its distribution.What's the point of MONTHS of promotion - the actors on magazines, Ellen, late night, etc. - if barely anyone can still see the movie? Let's be honest, a robust box office performance helps any movie's nomination chances, even small indies.
I'm guessing CMBYN for 3 nominations -- actor and adapted screenplay, which seem assured, and best picture, because a passionate voting block will place it at number one on their nomination ballots.
Are there other examples of post-2011 best pic nominees with only three total noms?
Hidden Figures only had three, including Best Picture.
San FranCinema: Brooklyn only had three (Picture, Actress, Adapted Screenplay). Selma only had two (Picture and Original Song).
"Crash" was over rated but it beat "Brokeback Mountain" because in liberal Hollywood land is easier to vote for minority struggle movie than the gay drama. It also had a very large cast which helped. " Get Out" is a much better film than "Crash" and it actually uses the limitations of the horror genre to make some interesting and not so obvious statements about race. But Oscar might still think of it as just a horror movie- I bet you if "Call Me By Your Name" was a foreign film it would have a much better chance of getting a best picture nomination.
jaragon
You cannot put Crash and Get Out in the same sentence. A puppy is dying now just for it.
I was enthralled by Call Me By Your Name on first viewing. I've seen it three times now and it doesn't get old. It's a film that is helped by seeing it with an audience.
I think it's got the three several others have predicted: Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Picture, with the fourth likeliest being one of the songs. They are really good. Let's hope they don't cancel each other out, which is what I fear will happen with the two supporting actor possibilities.