Why Timothée Chalamet is here to stay
By Astrid Cunanan, Arts Editor
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably noticed this 27-year-old’s face in many films as of recent. This month alone, Timothée Chalamet’s film career grew by two movies — Dune and The French Dispatch. With his talent, it comes as no surprise that this Academy Award nominee is booked and busy!
As talked about in Chalamet’s recent interview with TIMES magazine, he grew up in midtown Manhattan, New York. Where he attended the La Guardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. If you’ve gone down the rabbit hole of Chalamet’s old school project videos on YouTube, you’ve seen some of the cult classics such as his statistics rap or Timmy Tim rap — both adorable and incredibly cringy.
Chalamet first caught my attention with his role as Elio Perlman in the coming-of-age romance Call Me By Your Name. Together with his love interest, Oliver, the two explore Northern Italy while trying to navigate their feelings for each other. The cinematography of this film was fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed the sequence of Elio and Oliver frolicking up the mountain with “Mystery of Love” by Sufjan Stevens in the background. So much so that I had to write down the place in hopes I get to visit it someday; the misty meadow with the close-up shots of Serio Falls in Valbondione, Italy is absolutely stunning.
Chalamet shines in the last five minutes of this film, yes, the part where he cried for five minutes straight. Although nothing was said, his teary eyes said more than words could ever describe — his pain radiated off of the screen leaving me speechless, heartbroken, and nostalgic for the sweet moments he and Oliver shared. Movies don’t typically make me cry but when they do I make sure to add them to my list of emotional films to watch no more than once a year to preserve their specialness.
The next film I want to talk about is Lady Bird. Although Chalamet played a mysterious and snobbish teenager, I was still happy to see him up on the screen. His character Kyle is a typical leather jacket-wearing, anti-government, chain-smoking ‘bad boy’ boyfriend which completely contrasts Lady Bird’s first boyfriend, Danny. Lady Bird holds a special place in my heart, wanting to drop everything to escape to a bigger city is a feeling I still get often.
Although I enjoy watching Chalamet’s earlier projects, his new roles in Dune and The French Dispatch are absolutely amazing and surprising. Over the course of a few years, he has grown to hone his skills in acting.
Chalamet is not going anywhere anytime soon, currently filming Wonka set to release in 2023. Expect to see him even more in the next few years. I have no doubt he will continue to wow and captivate new audiences as he gains more and more experience.
