C.R.A.Z.Y. (Vallée, 2005)

[animatedude]

http://imdb.com/title/tt0401085/

great film.there's so many ways to describe this movie but iam just gonna say it's American Beauty meets Almost Famous meets The Velvet Goldmine.i laughed and i cried so hard and after watching this movie, there's nothing more i can say than GOD I LOVE WATCHING MOVIES.

[X.]

He's got a David Bowie button? I'm in.

[madali]

You cried?

[animatedude]

oh i did cry.David Bowie and Pink Floyd fans will be very pleased.i would tell you what scenes of the movie i loved but i don't wanna ruin it to anyone.and i don't suggest you read a lot about the movie since some ppl will ruin it for you.

[fizz]

Pink Floyd? Count me in as well.

[shariqq]

C.R.A.Z.Y.
Jean-Marc Vallée | Canada| 2005
127 min



Deadline to post your review: 25 July, 2009
Availablility: If you are unable to find this film from your regular sources, then PM one of our moderators (click: Shariq, Kaytee, Fizz or Madali) and they will help you out.

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[ayaa1977]

C.R.A.Z.Y tells the coming of age story of Zachary Beaulieu, Marc-André Grondin, among five brothers, and his struggle to define his identity and determine his sexuality, his competitive relationship with his brothers and his complicated relationship with his father. The film spans from the 60’s to the 80’s in Quebec, Canada.

I though the film has a great deal of charm, and it was written and acted in away that makes you care about the protagonist and the subject. Music plays an integral part in the film’s plot and ambiance. Great soundtracks of the era are featured in the story, like Charles Aznavour, The Rolling stones, David Bowie, and especially Patsy Cline's songs especially Crazy, which is a double entendre for both the song and an acronym for the brothers’ initials.

The film doesn’t focus on all the brothers, in fact apart from Zac; the only brother who has a defined story arc is Raymond, the second eldest, who is the black sheep of the family, and Zac’s arch nemesis/role model. Raymond is the Casanova of the punch, that is his identity, but that is the only thing that defines his character, and may be that is why that lead him to a life of drugs addiction and eventually will lead him to his demise. His relationship with Zach is complicated, while he always bullies and picks on him, he also has his little brother's back whenever he needs him.

The other important relationships are Zac’s with his Mom; a very devoted Catholic woman whom I think loves him even more than his brothers because she thinks that he is gifted with the healing power of Jesus and because she shares a special psychic bond with him, and that made her love for him unconditional and unmatched. However, the main theme of the film is the father/son relationship with his macho blue-collar father whom from the time that Zac was toddler made it clear that he will not tolerate a “fairy” son. So for his entire childhood and teen years, Zac tried to overcompensate to live up to please his father, but his frustration at him also calls for a rivalry and challenge to his authority. He sees that his father would accept and tolerate his brother’s demons just because he is a “man” not a "sissy", but he wouldn’t accept the notion of his son’s homosexual even though he otherwise leads a successful functioning life.   

The acting across the board is superb, and what I liked the most about the actors is the fact that they are subtle in their portrayer of their characters. The mother, Danielle Proulx, and the father, Michel Côté, are masterful in their roles. They don’t go the showy route even in the emotional scenes. It is a realistic portrayal that we can relate to. Marc-André Grondin as the teenage Zac is also excellent, especially in conveying Zac’s rebellious tendencies, his sexual confusion, and the homosexual undertone of his actions. Émile Vallée, the director’s son, plays Zac at young age, and he is an amazing talent. His scenes with his father are priceless.

My least favorite part of the film is the overindulgent heavy-handed direction of Jean-Marc Vallée, who also co-wrote the film. He treats the film as if it is a TV show, so he goes on and on and that made the film too long for its own good, at 127 minutes runtime. The symbolism in the film is too ham-fisted, like the moment Zac loses his faith in God, the cross fells of his neck into the bottom of the lake. Also the director treats the audience like idiots and thinks he has to explain every thing. Like Yvan the youngest brother explains to Zac how he found Raymond dead in the bathroom with a needle stuck in his arm, so the film cuts to show us that needlessly. Also before the end credits rolls, the director has to explain to us where the name C.R.A.Z.Y came from, just in case we are too dumb to figure it out on our own. I would not mind that if moments like these are sprinkled through out the film instead of overwhelming us with them, or if the film is highly stylized, which it is not. It seems like nitpicking but sometimes those minor issues take from your overall experience.

Needless to say I enjoyed the film immensely, because it deals with universals themes of sibling’s rivalry and more importantly the father/son relationships. You don’t have to be gay to relate to Zac, because we are all bound to disappoint our fathers at one stage or another of our lives and not live up to their hopes and expectations. Every father wants his sons to grow up and do the things he couldn’t do and be better men than he is, and every father makes the mistake of thinking that his kids will grow up and follow the path he drew to them. But if there is one thing that we can always count on is that no matter what you are or what you do, you should always know that your parents will come around and love you regardless. They can’t help it, for you are a part of them. I give the film 4/5.

[fizz]

The following contains spoilers, including a discussion of the ending:

C.R.A.Z.Y. has a great opening scene, a baby is born on Christmas day (forever to have his birthday overshadowed by celebrations of this festival) and while the ecstatic father is handing him over to his younger sons to see, the baby drops to the floor - a literal fall from grace even at birth. For a film that spans 2 glorious decades in the life of a family of 5 sons, their sibling rivalry, their unspoken affection and love for their parents, their coming to terms with their sexuality and desires - two things remain a constant - the heavy handed themes of spirituality and the fascinating choice of music.

The film is structured as part fantasy, part dysfunctional family dynamics. The confusion that stems from a childhood of strict upbringing is carefully captured. The story is essentially about the 4th son Zac, in this 5 son family (friends joke about the kind of lead that the father carries, since the family tries but is never able to concieve a daughter...). Zac behaves oddly even as a child - dressing up in his mothers clothes when the parents are away, longing for toys that are essentially for girls, and the film sort of stresses that the way the parents behave during these prime and formative years and situations really elevates this confusion into self awareness. But the film, right upto the end, keeps the issue of being a homosexual at bay by way of ambiguity.

When an older Zac is confronted as either a gay or by men showing interest in him, he fights back, physically and emotionally. He remains in a steady relationship with a female for many years and the film plays it both ways - creating situations where we think he is straight but also adding to our own confusion about where his aptitude lies. The end, a bitter sweet segment where the family comes together for a tragedy - their second eldest son Raymond, who has struggled throughout the years with drug addiction, has finally overdosed and nears death - underscores the point about how the family could have done more to prevent Raymond's relapse into addiction had they not ignored it over Zac's issues of sexual orientation. This ambiguity and handling of the subject matter is seemingly profound. It allows the film to be more universal than other films that have explored gay sexuality - Brokeback Mountain's shallow treatment of this subject for instance - because its themes are about so much more. In this intelligent approach, the film is a clear winner.

Much of the amusement in the film comes through the family dynamics and the aforementioned fantasy segments. Zac has an over eager imagination and the director is adept at making this come to life as a fantasy. The scene in the church, after Zac has disassociated himself with his religion (as all teenagers do at some point of their life), where they are at mass and choirgroup breaks into the Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil is both hilarious and masterfully executed - Zac elevates into the air and seems to almost emulate Jesus during crucifixation. In fact, if anything, the fantasy elements quickly begin to get tiring because they are laced with such obvious, heavy-handed manner of offering syllogism. Also, the script, as entertaining and intelligent as it is, also meanders with these familiar family themes - so much so that after numerous, reptitive family fueds and fights (this film must hold some type of record for the number of times a finger is shown - I lost count after 15), it started to feel a bit like TV's Wonder Years, with Christmas becoming a reason to open not just presents, but old wounds and the age old death in the family reuniting lost souls.

The film doesn't offer answers to the puzzle of why Zac behaves as he does, but it offers enough clues. Part of it is the family, especially the father, who is a real man's man and wants to see his sons as macho as he is. I just wish that the film had not pandered to the stereotype of casting Zac as being so good looking - isn't it a cliche that all gays are such beautiful, handsome men? Despite the minor setbacks, the film is worth anyone's time - the bravura direction and the family spirit that it captures is truly heartening, delightful and full of joy and the music, from classics like Bowie's brilliant Space Oddity to Pink Floyd's Shine on your crazy diamond and the The Great gig in the sky are some of the best uses of music to reinforce a time and place that have ever been used in a film.

Rating: 3.5/5

[madali]

C.R.A.Z.Y. (Vallée, 2005)
IMDB Link

Zach is a young teenager in a 70s household, and he is homosexual, and faces hardships.

That is the sort of plot synopsis that makes me never want to watch it, and if it was not a recommendation, I would have not touched it. It seems so predictable, so overdone, and so trite.  But I was completely wrong on it, because the movie is less about Zach being gay, but more about family and our expectations of it.

The father has five sons and all are different. Most of the focus is on the two of the brothers, Zach being the in the closet homosexual and the oldest, Christine, being a wild kid, and has difficulties with his drug addiction. While the movie is told from the perspective of Zach, I think the real central character of the movie and the vital ingredient of the film is the father. He is a traditional, macho man, but that description is not used to create false conflicts with the homosexual son for dramatic effect. 

Instead, I find the father as any father that has love for his children, and they never turn out the way he wants them to turn out. That has nothing to do with homosexuality nor is it anything unique, but it is a lesson I am sure most fathers learn in a way. There must always be some sort of disappointment to have children that are different than you, not just in sexual orientation, but in manners, in hobbies, in ambitions, in anything that is different than the way the father thinks is correct or ideal. When a child is young, they worship the father and he is put on a pedestal and the child mimics the father, and I am sure the father must eat that up. But when they turn into a teenager and move away from that, they start to challenge the father’s authority and this must be crashing to the father.

“C.R.A.Z.Y.” then is not a gay movie. It is movie of boys loving their father and failing him, and of fathers loving their sons and failing them too, and the inner and outer battle to get past this failure.

Oh, and side note. Amazing soundtrack. David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane….and all fit perfectly in the scenes, rather than just random songs the director likes, which is how it seems to be done with a lot of directors nowadays.

4/5

[animatedude]

i saw this movie again a few days ago...i thought i'm just gonna watch the first 10 min then complete it some other time but i couldn't,i got sucked into it until the end.

about the soundtrack,i think it's good that they managed to get lots of good music by popular musicians for such a small movie.the director mentioned he wanted to get loads of music by other groups like Radiohead but he was turned down many times.

the thing that i find a bit weird...was there really a bar in Jerusalem back in the 80's?

[ayaa1977]

So guys when r u gonna start the discussion?

[shariqq]

I just finished watching this, and am glad for animatedude's choice. Good movie and wonderful characterizations. More when I'm at work tomorrow, I'll be able to spend more time panning out my thoughts

[madali]

The only problem with this movie is that there is not much to discuss. We all liked it, good music, that's it, let's pack up and go home.

[ayaa1977]

I suppose you are right Mad.

[shariqq]

Yes, madali is right. The movie has no multiple layers or unanswered questions that can be discussed. But that should not take away that it was still a good choice of movie for the club. C.R.A.Z.Y. is a wonderful little movie that explores what it can be like to be different. The director does a fantastic job of showing this, and uses his music well. Good performances too.

What stood out for me was the pacing of the movie. It never gets preachy, melodramatic or brooding. It just carries on showing the life of Zac at different but important moments of his (and his father's) life. To be able to do this for two hours without once having felt that it dragged is commendable.

Another thing that I liked was the aesthetics of the movie. It shows no nudity, hardly even coming close to it. For the subject and themes involved, this can be unusual. This could have led to a situation where the director is called a wuss for not really treating the subject with the depth it requires. But here, the director *does* manage to give us a realistic and deep story of the dilemna that Zac goes through due his orientation. Quite an achievement. Brokeback Mountain had a lot more of it, yet accomplished less than this movie did. Not that I'm against nudity, it just shows how well written the story and characters were.

I'd rate this 3.5 of 5