CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (2017) – My rating 7.2/10

Call Me by Your Name is a coming-of-age drama directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by James Ivory and based on the 2007 novel of the same name by André Aciman.  Call Me by Your Name chronicles the romantic relationship between a 17 year old Jewish-American Italian boy and a 24 year old  Jewish-American graduate student who meet and start a  romance in Italy.  At face value, I got very little from this movie but am certain many others found it very informative and touching.

Call Me By Your Name opens in Italy, 1983 at the family home of the Perlman’s.  17 year old Elio, (Timothée Chalamet) lives in the northern Italian countryside with his parents. His father (Michael Stuhlbarg), a professor of archaeology, invites a 24-year-old Oliver (Armie Hammer), to live with his family during the summer to help with his academic paperwork. Elio, an introspective bibliophile and musical prodigy, finds little in common with Oliver’s carefree and exuberant personality and also resents vacating his bedroom for the duration of Oliver’s stay. Elio spends much of the summer reading books and hanging out with his girlfriend, Marzia (Esther Garrel), while Oliver is attracted to one of the local girls, much to Elio’s chagrin.

Elio and Oliver begin to spend time with each other, and a seductive courtship emerges—they swim together, go for long walks in the town, and accompany Elio’s father on an archaeological trip. Although Elio begins a sexual relationship with Marzia and brags about it in front of Oliver to gauge his reaction, he increasingly finds himself attracted to Oliver. During a trip to the post office, Elio subtly confesses his feelings to Oliver, who gently tells him that he should not act on them. Later that day, Elio and Oliver kiss, though Oliver is reluctant to go further but the two manage to cultivate a full blown affair.

With the end of Oliver’s stay imminent, the couple find themselves overcome by uncertainty and longing. Elio’s parents, conscious of the bond between the two, recommend they take a trip to Bergamo together before Oliver goes back to America. They spend three romantic days together, after which Oliver leaves, and a heartbroken Elio returns home.

Call Me By Your Name is truly a love story.  While I’ve left out most of the details of their relationship, I’ve tried to reveal the innocence and relevance of the relationship.  You will have to see this coming of age film to really understand the entire meaning of the story.  While I didn’t find it to be the greatest, you might feel differently.  I felt it took a long road to get to the point.

[Call Me By Your Name is Oscar nominated for BEST: Picture, Actor, Adapted Screenplay and Original Song]

 

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS (2016) – My rating 7.5/10

This unusual psychological thriller is a story within a story that takes you on a surprising journey. Not knowing what to expect, I was delighted by how well Nocturnal Animals kept the audience fine tuned into the events as they happened, despite the constant flipping between the novel and the real life story of the reader.

Susan Morrow (Amy Adams) received a manuscript written by her x-husband, Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal) along with an invitation for dinner during Edward’s upcoming visit to Los Angeles. Susan is currently married to businessman, Hutton Morrow (Armie Hammer) who is unfaithful and currently having an extra marital affair throughout the movie. During her marriage to Edward, Susan deemed Edward a failure as a writer and ended their marriage when she terminated their child by having an abortion without his knowledge, 20 years ago. She is convinced his novel, which he sent to her, asking for an opinion, was nothing more than revenge for her behavior when they were married.

As Susan starts to read the novel titled, Nocturnal Animals, she becomes so engrossed in the story she can’t put the manuscript down. Edward had sent the novel to prove that he was not a failure and that he was quite capable of writing a successful novel. The movie actually flips to the novel about a family man, happily married to India Hastings (Ellie Bamber) with a daughter on family vacation, when they encounter the Ray Marcus gang (Aaron Taylor-Johnson – gang leader; Lou (Karl Glusman – gang member); Turk/Steve Adams (Robert Aramayo – gang member), who forces them off the road. The three thugs beat Tony Hastings, (Jake Gyllenhaal) the family man in the novel, kidnap Tony’s wife and daughter then drive off with Tony and dump him somewhere along side the road, unconscious. With Tony’s wife and child missing, he eventually hooks up with a Lt. Graves (Graham Beckel) who helps him search for his family and the Marcus gang.

Nocturnal Animals continues to flip between the novel and real life showing us and Susan the terrible flaws in her character and judgement. The novel holds you to the edge of your seat and will keeps you guessing about what becomes of Susan, her husband and his affair. I was well entertained, surprised and thrilled — Nocturnal Animals is definitely worth seeing, great performances, great story.

{BTW, Aaron Taylor-Johnson won the 2017 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture,  for Nocturnal Animals!}

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BIRTH OF A NATION (2016) – My rating: 8.5/10

Birth of a Nation is a history lesson that can leave you pretty emotionally drained.  This version of Nat Turner’s rebellion against White slave owners is based on a true story and takes place between 1800 and 1831.  While there is much controversy surrounding the facts in this movie, one thing is certain, there is lots of blood shed, hate and injustice.  Nat Turner (Nate Parker) was a legendary slave because he was perceived as special among his people with special traits and markings that he was expected to live up to.  How much truth there is to that perception is anyone’s guess but there was no denying that Nat had above average intelligence and skills.  He learned to read and studied the Bible at an early age, taught by his master’s mother,  Elizabeth Turner (Penelope Ann Miller) for the purpose of becoming a preacher.

As the movie progresses, one gets the impression that the master, Samuel “Sam” Turner (Armie Hammer) owner of the plantation where Nat Turner lived as a slave, was somewhat liberal and a better master to his slaves than most.  There comes a point in the film that you will learn differently.  Sam was not as financially lucrative as most plantation owners and began slowly losing his position in society.  After accepting an offer from the local preacher, Rev. Walthall (Mark Boone Junior) to get paid for taking Nat around to other plantations to preach to unsettled slaves, it became clear  Sam and Nat’s relationship started to change.  In the meantime, Nat married a slave girl he had urged Sam to purchase named Cherry Turner, (Aja Naomi King) who eventually ended up residing at a nearby plantation along with Nat’s mother, Bridget Turner (Esther Scott) and their baby girl.  Hark Turner (Coleman Domingo), Nat’s closest friend, was first to engage in a  marriage celebration to a slave girl named Esther (Gabrielle Union).  Esther was also first to experience a violent rape, leaving the biter taste of rage with Hark for which there was nothing he could do anything about.  Soon after, Nat’s wife experienced the same fate, only this time it was a gang rape and a beating so severe, Cherry was practically unrecognizable.  This is what has caused controversy since history bears no proof Cherry was ever raped.  Because Nate Parker wrote, produced and directed this version of Birth of A Nation, critics feel he based Nat Turner’s attack against White slave owners on a rape that never happened.  Also, according to history, Nat Turner’s confessions were significantly relevant but was left out of the movie.

As usual, I must stop here because I don’t want to divulge any more spoilers.  In my opinion, you need a strong constitution to see Birth of a Nation, it’s not for the weak at heart.  There is excessive violence, injustices, murders, graphic slanderers and more.  Despite any embellishments, the ugly, horrible, racist, truths are shown and go down as a part of history that cannot be undone.  Perhaps the knowledge of Birth of a Nation will resonate with those who bother to go and see it.  Learning from our mistakes will keep us from repeating them.  Nat’s mother spoke about Nat’s father in the movie saying “I’m glad he didn’t live to see a grown man broke down — it’s a terrible thing to see!”  I think Birth of a Nation is a must see, especially in these times of unrest.

 

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THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. (2015) – My rating: 8.3/10

THE OLD:
From the moment THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. started, I thought I wasn’t going to like it.  The old fashioned clothes, the old technology, the old hair styles, the old cars, the old music and well, I thought it was just going to be OLD!!  Not that there’s anything wrong with old, it’s just not my favorite thing to do, watch old footage of old films.  As a young girl, I faithfully watched The Man from U.N.C.L.E. every week and was quite smitten with David McCallum who played KBG Agent,  Illya Nickovitch Kuryakin along with Robert Vaughn who played CIA Agent, Napoleon Solo in 105 episodes from 1964 through 1968, but these two new guys were not those two familiar guys.

THE NEW:
However, these two new guys are quite handsome and did a brilliant job of portraying the CIA (Henry Cavill as Solo) and KBG (Armie Hammer as Illya) agents who begrudgingly worked together for the good of their countries to get the job done.   Also working with  Illya and Solo as an Intelligent Agent is Gabriella “Gaby” Teller (Alicia Vikander) who is also the daughter of an alleged Nazi Scientist, Udo Teller (Christian Berkel) who is being held against his will and forced to build a nuclear weapon for a very rich couple’s, Alexander and Victoria Vinciguerra (Luca Calvani and Elizabeth Debicki, respectively) private organization.  The trio, Illya, Solo and Gaby are assigned by their respective governments to stop this transaction from happening and steal the schematics when it’s over.  The agents find a way to make peace without sinking to any underhanded deceptions among themselves.

In the end, the trio is reassigned to a new international organization under Alexander Waverly’s (Hugh Grant) command. Waverly then deploys them on a new mission in Istanbul under their new code name: U.N.C.L.E.  (According to TV history, Waverly is the #1 of Section I of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. He is one of five regional chiefs in charge of the multi-national agency.  In this film, Waverly is a high-ranking MI6 operative who reveals that Gaby Teller is an undercover agent under his employment.)  In the end, I really enjoyed The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,  excellent story telling, brilliant acting, good special effects with just the right touch of humor.  Kudos to Guy Richie who directed this film.  Well Done!  I’m looking forward to a sequel.