Artwork by Jordan Baker There’s so much you can say by staring at someone while eating a hot dog. It can be flirty, or threatening, tender or humiliating. And Luca Guadagnino understands this better than any working director  today. In Guadagnino’s work food is given power and glory. It isn’t treated as a mere  prop. It performs, brings characters together, or helps them make discoveries about themselves. In his films, food becomes a vocabulary for longing and restraint, for the things his...

“Okay. Now your pants,” he said.  I gave a crooked grin, regretting it when he didn’t return it.  “Is that fine?”  “Of course,” I stuttered.  My fingers fumbled clumsily at my belt as I swallowed the lump in my throat. Every look, every gesture I’d been making exposed my inexperience. But my pants slipped down, pooling at my ankles. Instinctively, I shielded myself.  “Shy?”  “Not exactly,” I muttered.  A cheeky grin grew on his face. “I’ll need to reach the inseam.”  I tried feigning...