Sunday, November 20, 2011

Like Crazy: Movie Review

 

A story of love, depending on what love really is.

Anna (Felicity Jones) and Jacob (Anton Yelchin) are in love with each like crazy. Hence the title, “Like Crazy”. They are in, or want to be in, a grown-up relationship — one where they act like adults and are just a part of each other’s lives. But they met each other at college and one stupid idea forces them to make grown-up decisions that will affect the rest of their lives quicker than they would have liked.2011

Directed by: Drake Doremus

Screenplay by: Drake Doremus and Ben York Jones

Starring: Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin

“Like Crazy” is just about their relationship. We watch as they fall in love, grow apart, find a middle road, and then try and pick an extreme. Anna is a writer and Jacob is a furniture constructor. But their lives are just so inconsequential to the film which is the way it has to be when it is only about their relationship.

The film is minimal in story, in characters, in budget, and in production. And that’s what makes it so sweet. Made for only $250,000 and edited in the director’s bedroom, it’s a story and film of passion.

I found it to be very similar to “Blue Valentine” (2010), but perhaps not as impactful — at least to me. Both played to rave reviews at Sundance, last year “Blue” picked up the Grand Jury Prize nomination, this year “Crazy” got the Jury win for both director Drake Doremus and actress Felicity Jones.

I first saw Felicity Jones last year in “Cemetery Junction” (2010). She played this beautifully innocent girl in a town where innocence just doesn’t really exist. In “Like Crazy” she plays a beautiful, adult-like young woman growing up in a world of love but learns that she might not know what love is after all.


Recommended:

Blue Valentine (2010) - Beautiful, harrowing, and real, exploration of one relationship.