Director: Drake Doremus
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence
Love is the purest form of addiction; it can lift a person into a state of euphoria, but once that feeling wears off, a sobering and empty feeling is left. Addiction to love is maddening, frustrating, painful, and irrational. These are the messy and ugly parts of love most movies skip over in favor of a happy ending: Like Crazy is not one of those movies.
The plot is simple: Anna (Felicity Jones) is a British college student who falls in love with her TA Jacob (Anton Yelchin). They become each others everything, so much so that Anna over stays her student visa. Anna goes back to England for a family wedding but when she tries to come back to America, she's denied entry and sent back to England, forcing her and Jacob into a long distance relationship. Cut off from each other, Anna and Jacob spend their time in quiet agony; with forlorn looks and painful expressions, like their bodies are going through withdrawal. Just when it seems they find a way to recover from each other, they fall back into the same pattern. In one scene, Jacob excuses himself from a night out with friends to call Anna; Anna answers but hangs up after a couple of minutes. In the moments after Anna hangs up, she lays on her bed in a fetal position, trying to keep herself from calling back. She relents and calls Jacob back, crying and rambling.
Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones give nuanced and naturalistic performances. Without using a lot of dialogue, both actors convey the fragility and hopelessness of first love; every moment they are apart resonates with the audience. Director Drake Doremus creates an intimate film that moves like a scrapbook with frequent use of jump cuts; each shot is as beautiful as any photograph. Doremus positions the camera like the audience is watching something secret, something not meant for outsiders to see. This makes those moments of longing and suffering Anna and Jacob go through more intense on the audience.
The last scene in Like Crazy will make anyone question their perception of love, Anna and Jacob love each other but that's not enough. Love comes along with other issues that require attention and dedication to work through, like any addiction. Love plays tricks with our mind and though it may feel good for the moment we have it, it may not be worth it to fall back into.
Score: 8/10
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