This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Jacob’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
"I think he was better than me."
Elio is so young. It's in the way he dances, how he slides into a room, and how his father calls him "Elly-Belly" while his mother holds his head. Oliver may not even be that many years older, but he's in such a different place. He's experienced, wiser -- still emotional, but not naive. The relationship between these two, a boy and a man, is a sad reflection of something I see too often. I know too many boys like Elio, and I'm sad to see their heartbreak in him. I’m sad to see these boys who get used and thrown away by men who don't care about them and are left thinking that they aren't enough. I’m sad to see Elio feel that pain, and I do not believe his crying eyes staring down into ours are enough of an acknowledgment that this relationship was never truly love.
There's a captivating quality to Call Me by Your Name that I can't tie exclusively to the setting, cinematography, nor score; it’s something in its air. I can imagine how so many people have let themselves be consumed by its lush images, as if ignoring the thoughts of home on a beautiful vacation. I wish I could let myself be washed over by the beautiful melancholy so many of you have felt, but I just can't.
