Review: "Call Me by Your Name"

Remember that glorious, gut-wrenching scene in James Ivory's The Remains of the Day in which the lonely butler Mr. Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) is caught by housekeeper Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson), the woman he secretly adores, reading a book of sweet love stories?

I will never forget it and it's that sense of overwhelming longing and desire that I figured would play so prominently in Call Me by Your Name, a picture not directed by Ivory but written by the filmmaker - a rare screenwriting credit. Yet the film, pretty as it may be, ultimately left me more restless than anything, one of the great disappointments of the 2017 film season.

The picture opens on young Elio (Timothee Chalamet) who, over the summer of 1983, spends his days relaxing in the Italian countryside with his family. His father (Michael Stuhlbarg), a professor of archaeology, invites Oliver (Armie Hammer), a twentysomething doctoral student, to spend much of the season with them. Initially, the introverted Elio and high-spirited Oliver seem to have little in common but, over time, they do grow close and, despite Elio's courting of Marzia (Esther Garrel), a sexual relationship soon blossoms.

Call Me by Your Name is sumptuously photographed by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom - it's a picture that looks just as splendid as Ivory's best. Alas, director Luca Guadagnino, who has impressed me in the past (I love I Am Love), shows far more sensual feeling for the countryside scenery than his characters. Elio and Oliver are just not as captivating or absorbing a pair as say, Mr. Stevens and Miss Kenton or Maurice and Clive of Ivory's Maurice.

Chalamet is dead-on convincing as Elio. Too bad he's stuck playing against Hammer who, his matinee idols looks aside, continues to exude the acting prowess of a block of wood. At the film's 11-'o-clock hour, Stuhlbarg has a monologue on young love that, while exquisitely delivered by the actor, rings of something manufactured that you'd only hear in the movies.

Call Me by Your Name dazzled my eyes but, to my surprise, barely tugged at the heartstrings.

B

2017 PGA Award Nominations

Congratulations to this year's Producers Guild of America Award nominees!

Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:

The Big Sick
Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
Get Out
I, Tonya
Lady Bird
Molly’s Game
The Post
The Shape Of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Wonder Woman

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

The Boss Baby
Coco
Despicable Me 3
Ferdinand
The Lego Batman Movie

Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures:

Chasing Coral
City of Ghosts
Cries from Syria
Earth: One Amazing Day
Jane
Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower
The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee

2017 WGA Awards Nominations

Congratulations to this year's Writers Guild of America Awards nominees!

Best Original Screenplay

Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Steven Rogers, I, Tonya
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor, The Shape of Water

Best Adapted Screenplay

James Ivory, Call Me By Your Name
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, The Disaster Artist
Scott Frank, Michael Green and James Mangold, Logan
Aaron Sorkin, Molly's Game
Dee Rees and Virgil Williams, Mudbound

Best Documentary Screenplay

Theodore Braun, Betting on Zero
Brett Morgan, Jane
Alex Gibney, No Stone Unturned
Barak Goodman, Oklahoma City

2017 Golden Globe Predictions

Here we go! Truth be told, I don't feel terribly confident about most of these - the exceptions being Best Director, Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, with the only true shoo-in of the evening landing in that middle category, for the unstoppable Coco.

My hunch is next Sunday will prove a strong evening for both The Shape of Water and Lady Bird, knocking the likes of The Post, Three Billboards and Get Out down a few rungs. It is hardly inconceivable, however, to think the Hollywood Foreign Press Association could fall for The Post and/or even go with Get Out in Musical/Comedy Picture, despite that one missing in both Director and Screenplay.

Will Oscar front-runner Gary Oldman's past jabs at the Globes damage his chances here? I suspect so but then again, the HFPA sure does like to try predicting the Oscar winners (and Oldman will remain the Oscar front-runner, albeit a softer one, even if he does lose here). 

Both Lead Actress categories are legit jump balls here, ditto Supporting Actress, where Allison Janney hopes to put a dent in Laurie Metcalf's front-runner status. And speaking of tough categories to forecast, there's Best Screenplay, where Globe favorite Aaron Sorkin could totally score another Steve Jobs-level upset with Molly's Game.

Oh, and don't you dare underestimate that dark horse Christopher Plummer down in Supporting Actor, especially with Oscar front-runner Willem Dafoe's film evidently not much resonating with the HFPA.

All that said, check out my predictions below, ranked from most to least likely to prevail. And of course, feel free to chime in with your own two cents as well!

Best Motion Picture – Drama:

1. The Shape of Water
2. The Post
3. Call Me By Your Name
4. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
5. Dunkirk

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy:

1. Lady Bird
2. Get Out
3. The Disaster Artist
4. I, Tonya
5. The Greatest Showman

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama:

1. Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
2. Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
3. Tom Hanks, The Post
4. Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
5. Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama:

1. Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
2. Meryl Streep, The Post
3. Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
4. Jessica Chastain, Molly's Game
5. Michelle Williams, All the Money in the World

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy:

1. James Franco, The Disaster Artist
2. Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
3. Hugh Jackman, The Greatest Showman
4. Steve Carell, Battle of the Sexes
5. Ansel Elgort, Baby Driver

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy:

1. Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
2. Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
3. Judi Dench, Victoria & Abdul
4. Emma Stone, Battle of the Sexes
5. Helen Mirren, The Leisure Seeker

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture:

1. Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
2. Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
3. Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
4. Armie Hammer, Call Me By Your Name
5. Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture:

1. Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
2. Allison Janney, I, Tonya
3. Hong Chau, Downsizing
4. Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
5. Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

Best Director – Motion Picture:

1. Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
2. Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
3. Steven Spielberg, The Post
4. Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
5. Ridley Scott, All the Money in the World

Best Screenplay:

1. Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
2. Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
3. Aaron Sorkin, Molly's Game
4. Liz Hannah and Josh Singer, The Post
5. Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water

Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language:

1. A Fantastic Woman
2. In the Fade
3. First They Killed My Father
4. The Square
5. Loveless

Best Motion Picture – Animated:

1. Coco
2. Loving Vincent
3. The Breadwinner
4. Ferdinand
5. The Boss Baby

Best Original Song – Motion Picture:

1. "Remember Me," Coco
2. "This Is Me," The Greatest Showman
3. "Mighty River," Mudbound
4. "The Star," The Star
5. "Home," Ferdinand

Best Original Score – Motion Picture:

1. Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water
2. Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread
3. Hans Zimmer, Dunkirk
4. John Williams, The Post
5. Carter Burwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Review: "I, Tonya"

At last, a film worthy of the talents of Margot Robbie and Sebastian Stan!

Robbie and Stan, two marvelous stars with rather patchy filmographies to date, are at their career-best in I, Tonya, a picture that serves up heaps of meat for both actors to chew on. Robbie, in particular, is truly stunning, in one of the year's best and most affecting performances.

The film, directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Steven Rogers, who too have only had intermittent success on the big screen, opens on young Tonya Harding (portrayed as a child by Mckenna Grace) being thrust into the world of figuring skating by LaVona (Allison Janney), her chain-smoking monster of a mother. By her teens (at this point played by Robbie), Tonya is one of the great up-and-coming American figure skaters, helped along the way by coach Diane Rawlinson (Julianne Nicholson), who shows Tonya infinitely more warmth and concern than her own mother ever provided.

Tonya eventually falls for Jeff Gillooly (Stan), a man equal parts doting and vicious, and is able to finally move out of LaVona's house by marrying him - alas, this is an act of moving from one abusive relationship to another. There are ups and downs for Tonya, both personally and professionally, culminating in a comeback attempt that inspires Jeff and his buffoonish friend Shawn (Paul Walter Hauser) to bring down Tonya's rival Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver). The rest, of course, is history.

I, Tonya is at its most absorbing early on, as Tonya catapults her way toward the top of the figure skating world, despite the barbaric pain (and negligible support) inflicted upon her by LaVona and Jeff. Robbie is downright exhilarating from start to finish, painting Tonya as a gifted, sad and wholly sympathetic figure. She's matched by Stan, often explosive as the volatile husband, and Nicholson, warm and wonderful, per usual, as the altruistic coach.

Janney, no surprise, is memorable too, but I don't think LaVona is quite as fleshed out on the page as Tonya and Jeff. It's a vivid portrayal of loathsome, garish woman, but Janney never quite gets that 'Oscar scene' you'd hope for and LaVona all but disappears from the picture in the second half.

While there is so much to love about I, Tonya, the proceedings are a tad less compelling once "the incident" comes to fruition. At this point, with the rock soundtrack blasting and film editing growing more snazzy with each frame, Gillespie and Rogers seem hellbent on kicking the film into Scorsese mode, and I think this only detracts from the brilliant central performances. Also, there's a little too much of the grotesque Shawn to stomach

My few quibbles aside, I, Tonya remains an absolute must-see for Robbie's stirring performance alone, a turn that, no doubt, is en route to an Oscar nomination. If only Stan could make the cut too!

B+