Just because I wear a mask and fight evil doesn’t mean I haven’t experienced the manic highs and heartbreaking lows of love. So even though Like Crazy (which won the Sundance Film Festival‘s Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic) for Best Picture) doesn’t feature a single explosion, supervillain or plot to destroy the world, the seemingly earth shattering struggles faced by Jacob (Anton Yelchin, who has battled all kinds of baddies in Star Trek, Terminator Salvation and Fright Night) and Anna (Felicity Jones from The Tempest) are all too familiar to Flash Gorem (as I’m sure they will be for many of you as well).
After Anna, a British student, falls for Jacob, her American classmate, their young love becomes so unquenchable that Anna overstays her student visa in order to spend the summer with Jacob. As a result, poor little Anna is unable to obtain a tourist visa, and is thus unable to return to the United States to see her true love. As we all know, long distance relationships can be difficult, bringing out all kinds of insecurities on both sides.
Now that we've found love, what are we gonna do with it?
Though their Notebook-like intentions (yeah, I saw The Notebook, too) of toughing it out in hopes of someday being able to spend their lives together seem noble, the push and pull of the situation is a constant reminder of the impending hopelessness of it all. And it’s not until after they’ve agreed to see other people (which results in a similar push and pull for their new significant others) that Anna and Jacob finally decide to go through with the most logical solution: getting married. Oh, but even then Anna’s previous visa violation holds things up, sending Jacob packing his bags back to American once again. Just when things look up, it gets all depressing again and again!
By the time the couple is finally able to be together, it seems too much damage may have already been done. Or has it? Based on the mostly silent and somewhat awkward interaction between the two after they finally get what they’ve been wanting, it’s difficult to deduce the exact emotion being conveyed. Could be sadness or regret. Could be a peaceful relief. It’s probably an odd mix of many emotions, and each viewer is likely to have his own opinion of where things stand. But regardless of what you take away from this film, Like Crazy ultimately shows that it’s just as easy to make mistakes in the battle of love as anything else that’s worth fighting for.
Like Crazy. Written and directed by Drake Doremus. Starring Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones. Rated PG-13. www.likecrazy.com.
Review by Flash Gorem