À la folie

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.

Just saw it at the Sundance Film Festival here in Park City, Utah.'Like Crazy' is a love story about the ups and the downs, the euphoria, the heartache, and the sacrifices. For those who don't know the plot, basically a British student, Anna, falls for Jacob, an American student. They fall for each other right away, and spend the summer together. However, she violates the stay of her student visa, and when she tries to return to L.A., she is denied. Thus, our two lovers are separated by distance and multiple levels of bureaucracy that prove to be most unfair. Can they make it work, and should they? Some have compared it to '500 Days of Summer,' and there are a few similarities. The major difference is the lack of any unique narrative devices and that it is, in fact, a love story. First and foremost, let me say that Felicity Jones as Anna is a revelation. She owns the screen and was utterly charming and devastatingly beautiful. There's a scene in the first 10 minutes after they spend their first evening together, and they sit on her bed, and a sense of tension but young awkwardness that fills the room. When the conversation falters out, she gives him a look that was filled with such delicate longing; fueled by the power of young love and the possibilities before them. It was in this moment that Anna, and Felicity, won me over. The chemistry between her and her co-star Anton was realistic and powerful. Much of the film was improvised; the director said he would often leave the camera rolling for twenty to thirty minutes at a time just to capture them together. It shows. I felt myself hoping and wishing for them to work it all out, to end up together.

The music is fantastic. It provides the heartbeat to the film and is a wonderful compliment. It's well edited - the film ultimately takes place over what seems to be a couple of years. Unlike early versions of the film, title cards have been removed and a series of jump cuts progresses the time. You have to pay close attention at times to have a firm grasp on the passage of time. There are moments when they are happy and together that are so iconic. Walking the streets of London, at times they looked like the cover of a Bob Dylan cover. Quick cuts of them together whether in LA or London are quite beautiful.

This film was obviously made based on real experiences, and the filmmakers admitted that it was the combination of many of their experiences. It's a realistic film. Things aren't easy. You will smile and laugh and other times feel just as much despair as our characters. There are no easy answers in this film, and your ultimate interpretation and perhaps enjoyment of the film depends on what you bring to the table, and your feelings on love, and just how much you believe in it. This film should make Felicity Jones a star in the way that 'An Education' benefited Carey Mulligan.

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.

Don't let it's indie roots fool you. Like Crazy is a nostalgic love story of people who know what they want but don't know how to get it.

The acting is superb. Yelchin and Jones have chemistry and they play it across the board. You will smile, laugh, cry, and hold your breath as these two characters waltz in and out of each others' lives. Jennifer Lawrence and Charlie Bewley also deliver great performances.

The thing that sets Like Crazy apart is the fact that it doesn't try to be anything than an honest love story. It doesn't play up stereotypes. It doesn't beat out the indie clichés. The dialogue is naturally paced and feels richly authentic. The subtext is dramatic.

This film is worth every dollar and dime in my mind. If you get the chance, go see it. Take friends who want to share the fun of a good film.

Like Crazy is a fantastic watch and a fresh take on everything you thought you knew about indie romance.

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.