Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

I like movies with two strong central characters… as long as they have good chemistry. This week I’m looking at two new movies featuring dynamic duos that work well together. One’s a romantic drama about two young men set in northern Italy; and the other is a comedy drama about two women set in downtown Toronto.

Dim the Fluorescents

Dir: Daniel Warth

Audrey (Claire Armstrong) is a struggling actress in Toronto. She’s passionate and tempestuous, with rosy cheeks and curly hair, a statuesque figure and a pierced nose. She takes anti-depressants daily so she pour her everything into her work. She goes to frequent readings and auditions, but still hasn’t landed her big break. She lives with Lillian (Naomi Skwarna), her friend and fellow theatre person. Lillian acts too, but she she devotes herself to writing scripts and screenplays, and to helping Audrey’s career. Lillian has a severe demeanor, with glasses and black hair pulled back. The two see all their friends moving up the ladder while they’re stuck at the bottom. And not earning any money from it, either.

So, instead of taking a day job, sitting in a cubicle between auditions, they decide to stick to the craft but in an unusual form and location. They take their acting to the offices, performing short pieces or worker safety on sexual harassment to add some life and excitement to the incredibly dull powerpoint lectures. They manage to turn each corporate banality into a scene from King Lear.

And their efforts are noticed, at least within the offices. One young exec, Bradley (Brendan Hobin), shows up after a show like a stage door groupie to heap praises on Audrey’s fine performance. Instead of asking for her autograph he asks her to dinner.

Meanwhile Lillian is trying hard to make her dramatic business plan pay off. Their big break, at least financially, finally arrives in the form of a contract: an eight minute show before 300 conventioneers. There are a few conditions – they have to include an executive’s niece, Fiona (Andreana Callegarini-Gradzik) in the show, and they have to end on a positive note. But as art reflects life, the drama of the characters spills onto Audrey and Lillian’s own lives, ending in an explosive crisis. Will they get it back together in time for the big show?

Dim the Fluorescents starts as an ordinary Canadian comedy: I get it, I thought, it’s about artists sacrificing their ideals to meet corporate demands. But after the first half hour it really takes off and just gets better and better. By the end it’s Wow – this is a surprisingly powerful movie! The cast is all new faces, all great. Especially Claire Armstrong – man, that woman can act her ass off!

Check this one out.

Call Me by Your Name

Dir: Luca Guadagnino

Wri: James Ivory (based on the novel by Andre Aciman)

It’s 1982. Elio (Timothee Chalamet) is a 17 year old Italian American who spends his summers and Christmas vacation at his family home in Northern Italy. It’s a beautiful villa located in a lush orchard beside a slow-moving river. His parents are academics with a passion for the arts. Mom (Amira Casar) translates medieval poetry, while Dad (Michael Stuhlbarg) is into ancient Greek and Roman bronze statues. Elio spends most of his time transcribing classical music on guitar and piano. He also hangs with Marzia (Esther Garrel), his longtime friend and semi-girlfriend, reading poetry and exploring sex. Elio speaks French to his mother, English to his father and Italian to everyone else. It’s a polyglot family.

Each year, Elio’s dad chooses a gifted American grad student, to come stay with them for the summer. They help catalogue his father’s writings and, presumably, provide a role model for Elio. This year, it’s Oliver (Armie Hammer) a grad student from small town New England. He’s handsome, athletic, preppy and arrogant. And smart as a whip. He dominates any room he enters, and will leave whenever he wants with a simple “later”.

Eliot is put off by Oliver’s manner but impressed by his confidence. And as he gets to know him better – at a village dance, a family dinner, and bike rides in the country – his interest runs into attraction. Are the feelings mutual? Both have girlfriends from the town, but this seems new. They begin a delicate pas de deux, simultaneously flirting, arguing and testing their limits, each trying to determine the other one’s feelings. Are they friends, or something more? Will this turn into a summer bromance or a lasting love?

Call Me By Your Name is a beautiful and clever romantic drama. It’s as interesting for what it has as it is for what it leaves out. The usual gay themes — coming out, bullying, abusive parents, fear, religious guilt, gay bashing, homophobia and HIV AIDS – aren’t part of this movie. It’s also not a typical boy-meets-girl (or boy meets boy) romance. What it does have is fantastic acting, a great screenplay, beautiful location, music and art. From the calligraphy of the opening credits to the devestating, single-shot finish, this movie is flawless.

Dim the Fluorescents is now playing. Call Me By Your Name opens today in Toronto; check your local listings. This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Friday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com.