Features > Movie Reviews > Like Crazy…

Boasting a talented young line-up; British actress, Felicity Jones (Chalet Girl), Anton Yelchin (Star Trek) and Jennifer Lawrence (X Men: First Class), it’s easy to see why this film has opened to critical acclaim. Winner of the Grand Jury and Special Jury prizes at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Doremus’ drama follows a young couple as they struggle to make their romance work, oceans apart.

After a passionate summer fling, exchange student Anna (Jones) is keen to keep her relationship with Jacob (Yelchin) alive, so she stays in the U.S. breaking the terms of her student visa. But when she is forced to return to the UK, their relationship comes under some serious strain.

In a bid to re-ignite their passion Anna attempts to visit Jacob but customs don’t sympathise with the lovers’ heartache and quickly put her back on a plane to England. The story continues with Jacob clocking up air miles travelling back and forth to the UK, while they try to fix Anna’s immigration issues. But things become more interesting when Sam (Lawrence) and Simon (Charlie Bewley) arrive on the scene. Without giving too much away, let’s just say this love square gets pretty sticky at times.

The last time a film explored the true, heart-breaking nature of relationships wasn’t all that long ago; the Oscar-nominated, Blue Valentine, was commended for its telling and raw depiction of a couple’s highs and lows. Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling lived together to get the right balance between feeling besotted and suffocated.

Likewise, Yelchin and Jones were open to less conventional ways of filmmaking. The actors were given free reign with the scenes, improvising much of the dialogue, while Doremus kept the cast on their toes, by leaving the camera on inbetween shots to capture their natural conversations. This blurring of the lines between reality and fiction, gives the film an authentic, and at times uncomfortably voyeuristic, feel. The audience are invited to watch the most intimate aspects of Anna and Jacob’s relationship, from their inner most pleasures to their painful insecurities.

Like Crazy plays on the pangs of true love, shying away from any clichéd Hollywood gloss, it gives this romantic drama a real edge.