A love story is both a physical and emotional tale, one that can be deeply personal and heartbreaking for an audience to experience. Director Drake Doremus' film Like Crazy beautifully illustrates how your first real love is as thrilling and blissful as it is devastating. When a British college student (Felicity Jones) falls for her American classmate (Anton Yelchin) they embark on a passionate and life-changing journey only to be separated when she violates the terms of her visa. Like Crazy explores how a couple faces the real challenges of being together and of being apart.
Like Crazy is a very raw film. You can detect the films low budget and improvised set pieces simply by watching. It’s one of the more important factors that prove to be a strong technique in its story telling because this isn’t your typical romance movie. It doesn’t try to be flashy and come off as a “typical” teenage romance, but instead aims for a far more realistic perspective through the eyes of two people that want to be together, but always find themselves apart. It’s a compelling watch, which at times, becomes hard to get through.
The relationship of the couple is the films entire story arc and very much like the relationship itself, the interest in watching it does up and down. When the couple is at its happiest, the film is good; when they are at rock bottom, it is fantastic, but when they are middling in-between, it becomes a bit frustrating to watch. You see this is a long-distance relationship that becomes annoyingly repetitive in their goals to keep them apart. Some of the obstacles placed between them make you roll your eyes, become annoyed and just wait for their next plan to fail. This is the aspect of the film that can really flip you from enjoying it. If you can get past this, you can get a unique look into this couple. A lot fo the techniques the director chose to use place these two young adults into interesting scenarios that come to test them. It makes you wonder if they are meant to be, or even if they will end up together. It tries to stray away from predictability and that’s where the appeal comes from. It’s a story that can end in so many different ways, but the only way to see which one it concludes with is to see for yourself.
In the two starring roles as the couple are Anton Yelchin (who has been on the rise for a while) and relative newcomer Felicity Jones. They both are really strong throughout the film, but there best moments come when there characters are truly at their worst. The emotions between them ooze through the screen and even affect the audience. This is the film that will have started it all when you look back at these two stars twenty years from now. Included in the cast in a small but crucial role is Jennifer Lawrence. Despite what the trailers made it seem, she’s a very minor character but steals scenes in them. It helps establish the notion in my head that Winters Bone wasn’t a one hit wonder for her. It’s a small but wonderful cast the gels together to establish an all-around good film.
If you’re in the mood for a thoughtful, sometimes messy, romance film in the same veins of Blue Valentine, this is exactly what you’re looking for. It’s a great detour from all that flashy predictable shit Hollywood tries to sell you. It can be a tough watch but seems worth it for a movie where the young protagonists don’t come off as dumb twats in needing of a slap to the back of the head. Try not to let this indie fly past you, you may regret it.
Overall Score: 7.5/10
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