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C.R.A.Z.Y

 ABOUT THE MOVIE


Genre:
Drama
Starring: Michel Côté, Marc-André Grondin, Danielle Proulx, Émile Vallée
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Rating: M18 (Mature Theme)
Year Made: 2005

 

 


SPECIAL FEATURES

- Making of Featurette

 

 


TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Languages: French
Subtitles: English/Chinese
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 Letterbox
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0, Dolby Digital 5.1
Running Time: 2 hrs 7 mins
Region Code: 3
Distributor: Comstar Entertainment

 

 

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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This review is made possible with the kind support from Comstar

 


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