Directed by Drake Doremus. Starring Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlie Bewley, Alex Kingston, Oliver Muirhead, Finola Hughes, Chris Messina, Ben York Jones 12A cert, limited release, 90 min
This humble romance has excellent performances and a killer ending, writes DONALD CLARKE
WHEN DRAKE Doremus's touching picture took the top prize at last year's Sundance Film Festival, more than a few pundits wondered if the decision heralded some kind of End Times for quasi-independent film- making. Wasn't Like Crazy a little too sweet? Didn't it feel a tad one- note? Can we seriously be expected to care for two young people united by their affection for, of all pensioners, Paul Simon?
These are all fair points (even if the last whinge is entirely my own). But such griping overlooks how comprehensively Doremus has satisfied his own humble brief.
Detailing the rocky progress of a long-distance romance, the film (largely improvised, though never showily) is very good at subtly conveying the temperature changes in a once-passionate romance. Slight modifications in intonation suggest that some invisible poison has got into the organism’s metabolism.
The film is rich with dialogue that shows the characters talking, but not communicating. Yes, Like Crazy lacks the chair-throwing angst of the tortured Blue Valentine.But it is sad in a way that few films about young people ever manage.
Long an attendant page in bad British films, Felicity Jones breaks through with her gorgeously confident performance as Anna, an English girl visiting Los Angeles on a student visa.
We begin with Anna delivering a delightfully ingenuous paper on aspects of modern media. Jacob (Anton Yelchin), an aspiring furniture designer, immediately takes to her and they embark on a cautious, impossibly soft-focus romance. They ride in Go Karts. They taste high-end whiskey. Drifting implausibly into middle- age, they both confess their passion for (yes) Paul Simon's Graceland.
Hanging over Anna and Jacob is the knowledge that – remember that J-1 Visa, readers? – she will soon be forced to travel back to the UK. Throwing caution to the tempest, she eventually decides to overstay the allotted period and enjoy her unexpected adventure in romantic bliss. This proves to be a bad idea. Some months later, after a terrible parting, she attempts to return to LA for a holiday and is turned back by plausibly austere US border officials. Unsure when (and if) they can be united, the couple attempt to maintain a relationship across the time zones.
Jones has a sure feel for the slight facial tells that reveal the truth behind platitudes. As time goes on – Anna receives promotion and meets a promising neighbour – one begins to suspect that an old-fashioned sense of obligation is keeping them together. When Jacob comes to visit, both parties begin looking at their hands and muttering inanities in a manner that speaks of trouble ahead.
The near-flawless performances are supported by a film-making style that makes economic use of trick shots. A lovely sequence finds Anna leaving Jacob at the departure gate and, as the time passes before his return, remaining stationary while a mass of travellers buzz about her miserable body. A few judicious jump cuts add rhythm to the longer duologues.
One gets the impression of a film-maker sitting back and allowing only the most necessary flourishes to colour a perfectly modulated duet between two perfectly attuned performers.
There are aspects to Like Crazythat will drive some viewers crazy. Why, for example, did Jake have to be a furniture designer and Anna a journalist on a trendy magazine? Would it kill the average indie film-maker to concern himself with the affairs of plumbers or junior accountants? What would drive Anna, allegedly a whiskey connoisseur, to corrupt that spirit with ginger ale? (Again, that might just be me.)
Like Crazyoffers, however, reliable pointers on the right way to make a small story seem disproportionately important. If for nothing else, the picture is worth seeing for its killer of an ending. Like it or loath it, you'll find the closing shot worth pondering.
