Call Me by Your Name [1] has already impressed film festival audiences since it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and more recently, at this month's Toronto International Film Festival [2]. Now with its Nov. 24 theatrical release date, not only will a wider audience get to appreciate the romantic drama, it's also in prime position for award season. Call Me by Your Name is an early favorite for 2018 awards, and having seen the film at TIFF, I'm predicting that we're going to see this one go all the way to the Oscars. Here are the categories in which the movie already has high chances at getting nominations.
Best Actor For Timothée Chalamet
21-year-old Chalamet has a breakout role [4] as Elio, a teenager who falls for his professor father's assistant. He also does most of the heavy lifting emotionally, and generally, it's just the meatiest role of the movie. As an actor, Chalamet is expressive — and impressive. Given that the Academy really loves spotlighting young up-and-comers, I expect Chalamet to garner best actor nominations at all the major award shows, Oscars included.
Best Supporting Actor For Armie Hammer
While a case can be made for Hammer also being in the lead actor category, his role is slightly smaller than Chalamet's, and sometimes you'll see actors split the categories like this so both leads can better their chances at winning. Boring award show category rules aside, Hammer is also deserving of acting accolades, even if his part isn't quite as challenging as Chalamet's. It's certainly the strongest performance of his entire career, and it's his chemistry with Chalamet that creates so much energy.
Best Supporting Actor For Michael Stuhlbarg
Stuhlbarg's role is quite small — he plays Elio's father Mr. Perlman, the professor who hires Oliver to assist him for the Summer — but he has a significant impact. As a true supporting character, Stuhlbarg is a delight, adding the right amount of good humor and charm when needed, but it's in one of his final scenes with Elio [6] that he shines. His moment partially defines the theme of the film, and it's the kind of showy speech that ends up getting recognized for awards (not to mention it would make the perfect clip to cut to during the Oscars).
Best Director For Luca Guadagnino
The technical achievements of Call Me by Your Name are what make the film such a creative triumph. Guadagnino’s directing and eye bring you a visually gratifying experience, and I expect we'll see the film in other categories recognizing the behind-the-scenes work, like best adapted screenplay.
