Rating: 3/5
I haven’t seen every Luca Guadagnino movie, but of the four I’ve seen, one thing is consistent: he doesn’t like characters but ideas. Some actors he’s worked with can create something from the vacuous space. Here, he commits the sin of unveiling that Zendaya isn’t up to this task.
Like Call Me By Your Name, the film suggests that what you are seeing is horny — the cuts, the music, the pacing — but the thing itself is artfully sexless. Sometimes, smoke doesn’t signal fire but mirrors.
The movie has several moments where my eyes glaze over while waiting for the movie to move. The constant slow motion worked (to a degree) in the finale, but it did way less in the rest of the film.
There’s one good tennis match in the movie: the last one. Still, the filmmakers used so many different fucking stylistic shots. I had to remind myself I was enjoying the film because they’d do another one, and I would roll my eyes.
Look, the boys are hot, and we see a lot of them. I ain’t mad. I love the soundtrack — I would love it more in a different movie. My heart raced, I chuckled, and I enjoyed watching those boys kiss.
But there’s too much of the movie doing other shit that is too frustrating to ignore. I enjoyed this movie! But I see folks love it, and I had to clarify why I’m not rating it as high.