SYNOPSIS:
It's a story of two love affairs. A father's love for his
five sons. And one son's love for his father, a love so strong
it compels him to live a lie. That son is Zac Beaulieu, born
on the 25th of December 1960, different from all his brothers,
but desperate to fit in. During the next 20 years, life takes
Zac on a surprising and unexpected journey that ultimately
leads him to accept his true nature and, even more importantly,
leads his father to love him for who he really is. A mystical
fable about a modern-day Christ-like figure, "C.R.A.Z.Y"
exudes the beauty, the poetry and the madness of the human
spirit in all its contradictions.
MOVIE
REVIEW
There
are many things hearty and nice about “C.R.A.Z.Y.”
but for a movie about a closet homosexual struggling against
just about everyone and every feeling he has, “hearty
and nice” probably isn’t the best way to be remembered.
Set in the glorious mood of the 70s, filled with beautiful
shots and featuring an expert cast, what “C.R.A.Z.Y.”
sadly and sorely lacked was the raw emotion requisite of any
coming-of-age film. The
movie is about Zac, a Christmas baby who dislikes Christmas.
He has four brothers, a tender mom and a tough-loving dad
and apparently possesses the gift to “heal burns and
staunch bleeding.” He worships David Bowie and plasters
his walls with Bruce Lee posters, perhaps as a kind of compensation,
works out and gets a girlfriend and basically tries to stay
straight to avoid his father’s disdain. But all these
hardly matter. The movie goes back and forth with half-hearted
idioms that start off promising but end up forgotten, leaving
a dissatisfying aftertaste that amuses at best and frustrates
at worst.
Zac’s
brothers are mere guest appearances with the exception of
Raymond, a druggie who antagonizes our protagonist, but even
his is a stunted storyline more confusing than anything else.
Similarly Zac’s storyline hardly commits and draws an
emotional arc equivalent of a plateau. His perplexing relationship
with his father is truly baffling for it’s nothing more
than a caricature of complexity, as is Zac’s internal
dilemma over his sexual orientation. He has some sort of a
profound bond with his mother but we aren’t let in on
it. Nothing much changes in the film, details seem to be plugged
in for the hell of it and the catharsis we wait for never
arrives. Question is, why dangle the carrot if you never wanted
the bunny? It seemed as though the script was written in flashes
of inspiration and stayed that way.
The
good news is writer-director Jean-Marc Vallee had quite a
few delightful flashes. There were a number of corny scenes
masquerading as the film’s emotional anchor but the
eccentric scenes that came from his flashes managed to neutralize
them. Bad news? The eccentricity was perhaps a little too
out-there and had tenuous links to the rest of the film. Still,
credit goes to Vallee, who does well to put the film together
in a cohesive fashion, and more so for compiling a soundtrack
Cameron Crowe would approve. Alas, a mediocre film but definitely
enjoyable.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Visual is rich and audio comes with a choice of French Dolby
Digital 2.0 or 5.1.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Not
much to shout about, just your standard making-of fare. No
dirty laundry, no funny stories – you won’t miss
much without it.
MOVIE
RATING:
OVERALL
DVD RATING :
Review
by Angeline Chui
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