Romance on the big screen has been reduced to a kind of lowest common denominator, often involving Katherine Heigl and indignities to one body part or another.
Nice change, then, to witness Like Crazy, a slow, thoughtful meditation on the waxing and waning of a love affair. The movie is about one's first real romantic relationship and all that comes along with that -- starting with the heady, exhilarating thrill of falling in love.
We meet Anna (Felicity Jones) and Jacob (Anton Yelchin) in a classroom.
She's reading an essay to the class, a clever shorthand intro to her beauty, wit and intellect. As she leaves the university she bravely puts a note on Jacob's car windshield, suggesting they meet for coffee. The game is afoot.
Using little dialogue and plenty of close-ups, Like Crazy traces the giddy wonder of beginning an intimate relationship. The camera lingers on lips and faces and the story unfolds in a little montage of walking and talking and spending time together. He looks at her CD collection. She introduces him to her British family's mania: single malt scotch. He meets her wonderful parents. It's all good.
Anna and Jacob graduate. She's obligated to return to England for the summer, as her student VISA has expired. When she decides not to go and stays with Jacob in California, she inadvertently puts in motion the obstacle that will force the couple to have a long-distance relationship.
Like Crazy has an unusual narrative path. The film is oriented to emotion, not action, so what happens to Anna and Jacob -- adult life, work, apartments, other lovers -- unfolds in an unconventional way. At any rate, it could very well break your heart.
The performances in the film are superb. Filmmaker Drake Doremus gave his actors a general idea of what the story was about, and what happened after that was all improvisation. The actors developed their characters and lived those lives in front of a hand-held digital camera. The result is a story in which every moment really counts.
Like Crazy suggests some fundamental gender differences in how a love affair is built and dismantled, and it's interesting to see how men and women (and of different ages) react to the film. This is a Hollywood career-making role for Felicity Jones, who has been acting since childhood but was otherwise one of England's best-kept secrets. She won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance for her performance here. It's well deserved -- even if she doesn't get drunk and pregnant, or wear 27 ugly bridesmaid's dresses, or fall for the scoundrel over and over and over again. Ha, ha!
