Review
US – Paramount Vantage (UK release 27 January 2012)
In an L.A. university American Jacob (Anton Yelchin) and British Anna (Felicity Jones) meet, date and become quickly, passionately attached. Unfortunately, looming over the relationship is the fact that Anna must return to England, since her visa is due to expire. But young love is reckless, and the pair flout the rules – with the outcome being that Anna is made to return to England, apparently never again able to return to the US. The film then checks in with the two over a period of what must be years, as they variously attempt a long-distance relationship, to keep it ‘casual’, and try to get over one another.
Like Crazy is apparently drawn from the personal experiences of director Drake Doremus – and Felicity Jones, who is quite rightly winning awards all over for her portrayal of Anna, has said that she and Yelchin improvised much of their dialogue. These qualities help bare out a very definite sense of realism in the film. When the two first court one another there is an awkward unscriptedness to their conversation; elsewhere disagreements escalate madly – almost imperceptibly - into fierce fights; and many scenes throughout are weighted with implications that would in other films be (regretfully) spelled out. Minor details, such as upgrades in telephones and changes to furniture, are unfussy but sharply observed truths.
When it is suggested that the central couple divide and see other people, there are details reminiscent of the sadder aspects of Annie Hall – when Jacob and Anna try to replicate their passion with a new partner, they cannot recapture the excitement – that je ne sais quoi – they shared with each other. There is also a lot of pathos brought to scenes between Jacob and Anna themselves in the later part of the film that mirror scenes from the earlier half, but lack the romance of the first time; for example, in a bouqet of flowers perfunctorily delivered at an airport arrivals gate. The viewer is thus left to pine for the unguarded, hopeful, slightly embarrassing younger counterparts that uncynically read poetry and made gifts for one another.
However the film is not all frustration and lamentation. Alex Kingston and Oliver Muirhead, as Anna’s clearly rich but thoroughly bohemian, whisky-loving parents, inject fun into every scene they appear. And there is a brilliantly dark laugh to be had in one perfectly awkward scene involving Anna and an over-keen boyfriend.
Some people may have trouble with the decisions and behaviours exhibited by Anna and Jacob over the years – which at times, considering they each half-heartedly take up with new partners, can seem a little selfish and even cruel – while others may just wonder what the big deal is in the first place (admittedly the question is raised but seriously, why doesn’t Jacob just move to the UK?). Many however (probably those who are fans of Before Sunrise/Sunset) will be too caught up in the film’s plentiful charm and bitter honesty to focus on those details. And the music, by Dustin O’Halloran, is just sublime.
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