Dir. Drake Doremus
Watching Drake Doremus’ romantic drama Like Crazy is a bit like trying to swim against a strong current before it eventually sweeps you away; at first you struggle with it, but by the end you find yourself completely submerged.
Anna (Felicity Jones) is an English student in California who falls in love with American classmate Jacob (Anton Yelchin). Like Crazy is the story of their long-distance, on-again off-again relationship.
Initially it is as annoying as it sounds. Why should I care about the romantic problems of attractive, posh people? Why am I watching them stare longingly into each other’s eyes? What has he been in? (Star Trek and Terminator Salvation, it turns out.) It all starts to feel like an art house version of (500) Days Of Summer; instead of The Smiths, they share a love of Paul Simon. They drink whisky together, splash each other in the bath and do yet more staring. It’s so cute you could just dig out your heart with a spoon and punch it to death.
Why can’t we see a film about a couple with a shared love of Skindred and heroin? And they can’t stare at each other because they’re both blind. If any Hollywood producers are reading this and interested then do get in touch.
Anyway, you can start watching this film with all the hate in the world and about half way through you’ll find yourself completely engaged and caring about the characters. This is thanks mainly to its naturalism; the dialogue is improvised and the characters actually talk like real people, unlike in so many films. This is combined with hand-held style camerawork to make Like Crazy constantly feel real; an effect which could not be achieved without the superb acting of Jones and Yelchin, whose relationship comes across as completely believable.
Jennifer Lawrence is as impressive as ever, conveying a tremendous amount of pain with practically no lines of dialogue. Alex Kingston also gives a solid performance, though the sudden appearance of River Song is disconcerting, making everyone for a split second think in unison, “…did they just time travel?”
Like Crazy gives a realistic account of romance, with a constant underlying feeling of tragedy. It is refreshingly cynical about the nature of relationships, undermining the Hollywood version of love and happy endings. This love story is a fraught one, reminding us that relationships are never easy. The air of violently repressed emotion and self-destruction is at times truly heartbreaking.
There is still plenty to be annoyed about – the heavy-handed use of music and imagery, the out of place caricature of Charlie Bewley’s character… – but overall Like Crazy is a film you’ll find yourself entirely wrapped up in.
7/10
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