Like Crazy

This film was beautiful. I saw it at the Sundance Film Festival and fell in love with it Like Crazy. Everything from the acting, to the cinematography, to the story line was amazing. And to think it was shot on the Canon 7D is incredible. I saw 14 films at Sundance and this was my favorite film in the festival. During the Q&A after the film the director made it clear that this film is about the true story of his own relationship with a girl. I would recommend this film to people who have experienced a long distant relationship and to teenage/young adult audiences. This film is the Winner of the U.S. Dramatic Competition Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. I think it deserved this prize. This film made me feel all sorts of different emotions. This film really is a beautiful story and I am excited to see it coming out in theaters.

This is a love story that was quite interesting to me, because the parts that didn't work were the parts dealing with the actual love. Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin were both excellent on their own, burning with pain while trying to move on with their life and just exist with this hole inside of them. However it was when they were together that the film lost it's appeal for me. I couldn't feel any chemistry between them, so I had no stake in a large majority of it because I didn't understand why they wanted to be together. Even with their first meeting they seemed so dour together, I never once felt any genuine love there.

The conversations between them were good and honest, albeit typical, and the fact that they improvised a lot of their dialogue makes it more impressive. Unfortunately the premise hinges on an event that I couldn't realistically buy for a second so any sadness the characters felt didn't have enough of an impact on me because there was always this looming anger towards them for being so dumb and getting themselves in this situation. The ending is a smart move, but it's also a pretty straight Graduate rip-off, so I can't commend it too much.

I'm harping a lot on the things that I didn't like about the film, but I think ultimately there were more positives than negatives for me. The actors really shined individually, even if they didn't sell the core relationship for me, and quite a few of their separate scenes gave me an emotional reaction, albeit not to the extreme that they should have hit me. So I'm pretty lukewarm on it overall, but I at least admired the acting.

I was checking out the storyline when I just realized this movie was the story of my life...almost! But it surprised me very positively.

I was also married to an American citizen just out of College and had to follow the same process in order to be with him. Truth is, the bureaucratic aspect of it has done exactly the same to my relationship. The movie captures so so well the frustration, the disappointment, the fears of not knowing if you have what it takes to fight "like crazy" for each other;

The moment in the movie when she calls him and asks him to come over in 30m, breaks my heart! So real, so in despair.

So, not only because I can relate to the story, but because the acting is superb, so natural and because I believe the production & direction have accomplished what they were looking for with the movie, I give it great points.

The movie is a true mirror of youth, freshness and it's timeless, Like a Romeo & Julieta of contemporariness.

It's so refreshing to see that really good movies can still be made once in a while. The Philadelphia Film Festival began this past week and chose a great movie to open with: Like Crazy. It won the Grand Jury Prize for best film at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, and deservedly so. It stars Anton Yelchin, one of those names you may not know but whose face you've probably seen before. He plays Jacob. The other star of the film is Felicity Jones, who won't have as recognizable of a face as she has mainly made movies only in England. She plays Anna. Jacob and Anna meet early in the film while attending the same college. There's an immediate attraction and they instantly hit it off. It's not long before we see how madly in love they fall for each other. It's the kind of love that most people only see in movies and never get to experience for themselves. In fact, they seem so in love and happy together at such an early stage of the film that you wonder where the movie is going from there. Well of course nothing's ever as perfect as it seems, and a big hurdle comes along that stands in their way of complete happiness. Anna is not an American citizen after all. She was attending college in the U.S. but still lives in England. So when she overstays her visa, she finds herself banned from the country. Why did she overstay her welcome? She did it to be with Jacob, of course. When someone is truly in love, they will often do anything they can to be with that person; but they sometimes forget about the consequences of those actions. At this point, the two lovebirds must decide on whether to maintain the new long distance relationship. It's not just any long distance relationship of course, it's an overseas relationship. That's a situation which is pretty tough for just about any couple to pull off. So the movie then shifts its tone to one of compromise and struggle. How much can one person sacrifice for the other? Can they somehow lift the ban, or will Jacob have to move to England thus leaving his current job in the U.S.? Is it all even worth it after it's all said and done? Many questions arise, not to mention the possibility of finding new love in their own respectable countries with someone else. It's a great film dealing with human emotions and how far we will go for another person. The two actors pour their hearts out on screen and it can be mesmerizing at times. Like Crazy opens nationwide on October 28. It's an independent film though so it will surely be shown in limited release, but find it if you can.

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.

"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.