Guadagnino makes the rare transition to a TV gig that’s more challenging than the film work that got the series order, though it’s not quite without precedent.Īiring as it does on HBO, where it premieres this Monday, We Are Who We Are is partly a follow-up to Euphoria, the channel’s initial foray into teen-centric programming. (Guadagnino cocreated the show with Paolo Giordano, Francesca Manieri, and Ray Donovan alum Sean Conway he also directs every episode and shares a credit on every script with Giordano and Manieri.) We Are Who We Are turns out to be something of a Trojan horse, as it’s both stranger and less story-driven than Call Me by Your Name.

We Are Who We Are retains Guadagnino’s lyrical, sun-bleached aesthetic, but it also restores his voice as a writer.

He’s also the mastermind behind 2018’s supersized, sometimes lurid remake of Suspiria as well as A Bigger Splash, a much darker and more cynical take on what happens when ugly Americans escape to the Mediterranean. The Luca Guadagnino Guide to Coming of Age in Italyīut Guadagnino isn’t just the director of Call Me by Your Name, a straightforward bildungsroman adapted from André Aciman’s novel. Together, the two of them hang out, consume substances, and dance at outdoor discotheques-in this case, Frank Ocean and the Rolling Stones swap in for Sufjan Stevens and the Psychedelic Furs. There, he meets a kindred spirit who prompts him to explore his sexuality-in this case, not a love interest but a new friend and fellow army brat named Cait (Jordan Kristine Seamón). Fraser (Jack Dylan Grazer of It) is a sensitive, repressed teen from the States, dragged across the Atlantic by his parents’ profession-in this case, his mother Sarah’s (Chloë Sevigny) new gig commanding a military base just outside Venice. Sure, there are parallels between the show and Call Me by Your Name-enough that fans of the latter will be satisfied and stick around.

But that’s not the case with We Are Who We Are. Worse, more cynical, and less achingly beautiful things have happened. The director of Call Me by Your Name comes to TV with another tale of an American teenager coming of age in Italy? Luca Guadagnino must be cashing in, building on his unlikely momentum as a European art house auteur turned stateside awards darling with an extended version of his most recognizable hit. You’ll probably think you know what you’re getting with We Are Who We Are.

Watch we are who we are