“I thought I understood it. But I didn’t. I knew the smudgeness of it. The eagerness of it. The idea of it. Of you and me.”
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence
Anna (Jones) meets Jacob (Yelchin) when she takes a year abroad as an exchange student to study journalism in Los Angeles. Young and in love, the two are faced with the troubling aspect of maintaining a long distance relationship when she is denied entry back into the USA, after returning home to attend a family obligation. Due to overstaying her original visa, the LA immigration authorities turn her away and send her back to England.
Like Crazy explores the strained relationship of Anna and Jacob who have this amazing connection and love for one another, but when put under pressure by living thousands of miles apart, see cracks and an unfortunate deterioration in their relationship.
A surprising but lovely feature of the film was that the dialogue was mostly improvised, the cast only had a 50 page outline to work with. Adding more personality to the characters and having a more relatable feel, it also demonstrates the young cast’s talents. As an independent production, Like Crazy also had a small budget that didn’t exceed $250,000, with Jones even doing her own hair and makeup.
The naturalness of the film is what I love most about it. Nothing is forced and this relationship seems genuine. You can relate to both Anna and Jacob and really feel for their unfortunate situation. There are plenty of handheld camera shots (the whole film was shot with a Canon EOS 7D) where we are shown just how well the two fit together. Even when there is no dialogue, just certain looks and touches, the chemistry between Jones and Yelchin was spot on and should see the pair be sprung into stardom soon enough.
Though I did feel there were a few faults with the film. Firstly the whole visa thing. Even though Anna is a romantic and might feel that love can conquer all, living in a post 9/11 world is not something that can be ignored. Yeah she’s not a terrorist, but she broke the rules! That’s either due to her being really naive or just a plain stupid.
Another thing about the film that I found a bit frustrating was was how easy it appeared for the two to just give up on their relationship when they became separated. They occasionally sent texts but always seemed to miss each other’s phone calls, even finding replacements for one another. They couldn’t even be bothered to Skype, so was this even love to begin with? Perhaps it was just some young infatuation, distraction or hobby. I guess it was trying to show that life keeps going, people move on. But seriously, if you love each other, like crazy, wouldn’t you show a bit more umph in being together? That’s where I think it falls down the most.
Ending on a poignant note that doesn’t suggest a happy ever after but leaves you to search for a conclusion, Like Crazy is like a much sweeter and adolescent version of Blue Valentine. With two rising stars and a lot of talent, it’s obvious as to why it won 2 awards at Sundance and received praise from the critics.
Star rating: 6/10
Directed by Drake Doremus.
Running time 90 minutes.
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