My LAFCA Awards Presentation for Luca Guadagnino

At Saturday night's Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards banquet, I had the honor of presenting one of our two Best Director prizes to Call Me by Your Name's Luca Guadagnino. (He tied in the voting with Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water, a very different kind of love story. All our winners are here.)

Here are the remarks I made from the stage...

I wish I could see the world through the eyes of Luca Guadagnino. His enrapturing films are filled with the complexity and pleasure of how romance first sparks, then blossoms and then sometimes drifts away. Most directors’ movies merely recreate the sensation of falling in love—his make you wonder if you’ve ever experienced anything quite so real. He depicts love so intensely because he sees life so beautifully. 

Call Me by Your Name continues a sensual and emotional exploration he began in previous movies, most recently I Am Love and A Bigger Splash. But it also feels like a culmination—a wistful summation of our shared desire to make connection with someone, to be seen. Call Me by Your Name never strains for significance, and yet in its quiet, languid chronicling of Elio and Oliver’s budding romance, it’s profound—cosmic, even.   

So, how did he do it? Not even his actors can quite explain this. When Michael Stuhlbarg was asked once about Guadagnino’s methods, he searched for an answer. And then this is what he said: “It’s wonderful filmmaking, what he allows us to see. Look at this weaving path. Look at this leaf. Look at the rain. Look at a waterfall. All of these images, in some perverse and magical language, help tell the story.”   

Since Call Me by Your Name’s premiere at Sundance, critics have tried to encapsulate this film’s poetry, but I think Stuhlbarg’s explanation is the truest. In Call Me by Your Name, Guadagnino gives us new eyes to see the world around us. Every little element matters—love above all else.  

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in congratulating our Best Director winner, Mr. Luca Guadagnino.

When I put together my presentation, Stuhlbarg was actually not scheduled to be in attendance. Saturday morning, I found out he was coming. I was very happy to give him a little shout-out from the stage.

Call Me by Your Name also won Best Picture from the group. A deserving winner, and a very fun night.

(Photo by Matt Harbicht.)