I have been waiting for LIKE CRAZY to be out on DVD. I missed it in the theaters but it has been on my radar since hearing about it when it debuted at Sundance 2011 where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Film as well as winning for acting (Felicity Jones)

I knew very little about this film outside of seeing one trailer, knowing it was a favorite at Sundance, and that Anton Yelchin (better know as Chekov from JJ Abrams’ STAR TREK) was in it.

LIKE CRAZY is an Indie film about relationships…

Wait, wait! Come back! It’s worth it I promise.

Anna is a student from England who is studying is Los Angeles where she meets Jacob with whom she has a crush on and they go out on a date to get to know each other. They hit it off (blah blah blah) but you really get to see they’ve got a connection and you can feel and see the joy these two characters have when there are with each other. When summer arrives Anna decides not to go home to the UK and stay with Jacob, leaving only for a week late in the summer to attend a wedding back in England. However, when she returns from the wedding, she is stopped at the airport by immigration for violating the terms of her student visa and is immediately put on a plane back home.

Now that’s what I call conflict!

One of the things about this film that drew me to it was that stylistically it was always making strong choices. Now, if you haven’t been living under a rock, you probably know that THE ARTIST won Best Picture at this year’s Oscars. While it was stylized to represent films of an early age it put a strong focus on the scoring to help tell the story. While LIKE CRAZY in not in black and white or a 1:33:1 ratio, it uses a similar technique of letting the story play out and advance with simply images and the score.

Many times there are scenes that communicate things that could have come out in a traditional way with dialogue but then it wouldn’t have been as strong of a choice and it would have felt much more like your average romcom. At many points since there was no specific dialogue I felt more like strictly an observer merely looking in on this relationship from a distance. You’re with this relationship as it runs its roller coaster ride of highs and lows. You feel the joy when they’re together and the stress and the difficultly of trying to make an inter-continental relationship work.

The most stylistic choices came whenever there was a great passage of time. These were some of the most creative and visually stimulating scenes and I loved every minute of them on screen. They became more artful and you could tell it was different from the normal story but instead of being a distraction (which it very well could have been) it was a choice that again enhanced the story.

The two that stuck out to me were: early on when Anna decides to stay with Jacob in America for the summer we see a birds-eye view of a bed with both of them in it. For the next minute we see quick cuts of them in different outfits and positions in the bed. Simple, yet very effective, and interesting to watch. In fact, it caught me by surprise and was so cool that I had to rewind and watch it a second time right then and there. The second was a scene that signaled the passage of six months. It showed Anna saying goodbye to Jacob in the airport and then the scene speeds up with everyone going very fast around her but Anna remaining in the same place. Then with a subtle cross fade and only a change of clothes to indicate a different day, we see Jacob returning on the down escalator in the airport without the camera moving positions at all. (We learn in the DVD commentary that Felicity Jones actually stood still in the airport for 45 minutes for the shot while the hidden camera in the airport caught the movement in the airport needed for the shot)

These choices stylistically help keep audiences engaged in our story as there is no “B” story to this film. We are either with Anna, Jacob, or both.

There were two surprises for me in this film: First, the appearance of Jennifer Lawrence, whose character shows up midway through the movie. Lawrence burst onto the scene in WINTERS BONE where the academy nominated her for best actress, but most recognize her from X-MEN FIRST CLASS or as Katniss from the soon to be released movie THE HUNGER GAMES. Lawrence does not disappoint in her role which was very mellow but powerful, different from what I expect out of her in HUNGER GAMES but definitely what this character needed. Second, was the appearance of Zygi Wilf’s name under the first executive producer credit. I only knew him as the owner of the Vikings but apparently he is a movie buff. Who knew?

This movie was definitely worth the wait for me and I rank it highly, up there next to (500) DAYS OF SUMMER and HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE – two of my favorites. It should definitely be worth at least a redbox for you!

I say, 4 ½ popcorn buckets!

LIKE CRAZY is now availabe on DVD and Bluray