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Review #157 of 365
Film: C.R.A.Z.Y. [R] 129 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $9.75
Where Viewed: Landmark Egyptian Theatre, Seattle, WA
When 1st Seen: 18 June 2006
[Seattle International Film Festival]
Time: 1:15 p.m.
Get the Patsy Cline single "Crazy" featured in the film from
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Born on Christmas day and pronounced as 'gifted' at age 6 by Mrs. What's-Her-Name the Tupperware® lady, if Zac Beaulieu (Marc-André Grondin) could have picked his birthday or family these probably wouldn't have been the ones! Forth of five brothers, all sons of Gervais (Michel Côté) and Laurianne (Danielle Proulx), each strove for attention his own way. The elder two, Christian (Pierre-Luc Brillant) and Raymond (Maxime Tremblay) set their mark with books and sports while Antoine (Alex Gravel) chose the route of leather jacket, motorcycle-riding/major thorn in the side of our French-Canadian, coming-of-age story's protagonist who is having issues dealing with feelings he may be having for his cousin's boyfriend. Of course, Gervais, father of five boys, self-proclaimed fountain of Y-chromosomes, would never sire anything less that a red-blooded, card-carrying, hockey fanatic, straight son—so Zac is probably just confused or in need of psychiatric help. Worse, for poor Zac who finds himself wanting a baby brother that he can push around in a stroller and dress up for as mommy, is that he really wants to be strong. His prayers to Jesus with whom, his mother constantly reminds him, he shares his birthday, are answered when Yvan is born. The title of the film, therefore, is an acronym of the five son's names (Christian, Raymond, Antoine, Zac, Yvan-C.R.A.Z.Y.) and a tribute to Gervais's favorite Patsy Cline song. It also foreshadows Zac's life which is a bit, not a lot, but a bit crazy as he ages through the 60s and 70s as a member of a working-class family in Quebec. For one thing, his gift to heal those who are burned and stop their bleeding is revered by his mother and reviled by his father. Antoine, with whom he has no love lost, gets hard and heavy into all sorts of nasty drugs. Needless to say, there is crazy chaos in his home all the time. Eventually, a catastrophic collision at Christian's wedding, causes him to leave the country on a quest to walk in Jesus's footsteps in the deserts of Israel where he has his third near death experience. That jolt restores his faith and confidence only to find himself recalled home to the funeral of Antoine.
"..richly detailed [characters] and portrayed with care…the script never does commit to anything…."
While the characters are all very richly detailed and portrayed with care, and the script has a lot to offer, one of the things it never does is really commit to anything or any one theme or any one message. Principally, the story is about Zac and his inability to come to grips with his real identity, but there is so much else thrown in to detract and divert, increasingly it becomes harder and harder to feel concern for him and his dilemma. Clearly, he is a tortured soul who leads on one young girl for many years with her hoping for the outcome of marriage with kids, while he keeps finding himself in awkward situations with other men. His internal struggle to be the son his father wants and the son he wants to be versus urges he cannot squelch or pray out of himself, is certainly a torture to bear. We get only signs that maybe he will reach absolution but nothing concrete. No doubt the set decorator had a fun job making this film look as authentic to the time period as I've ever seen. Great wardrobes and those killer Shaun Cassidy hairstyles for the guys, this was a retro late 70s-early 80s extravaganza. A lot of USAers probably forget that our trusted neighbor to the north operates just fine with a dual legal language custom, hence this film being in French with English subtitles, but I know many USAers who simply cannot abide by subtitles and will wonder why this film wasn't dubbed into English instead. One of the things I noticed with my incredibly limited French vocabulary of about 40 words, was that there is something to be said for (a) insults in French, (b) that sort of French swagger that only a virile French father can muster, and (c) if you work at it, you can increase your French vocabulary to 50 or 60 words from this film—a double bonus!
I enjoyed the way the film transported me so fully back to that time, but I wished for more resolution for Zac. This made the film a bit weaker for me in the end.
I enjoyed the way the film transported me so fully back to that time, but I wished for more resolution for Zac. This made the film a bit weaker for me in the end.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
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Review-lite [150-word cap]
Born on Christmas, if Zac Beaulieu (Marc-André Grondin) could have picked his birthday or family these probably wouldn't have been the ones! Director/co-writer Jean-Marc Vallée presents this coming of age dramedy of Zac, the Forth of five brothers (Christian, Raymond, Antoine, Zac, Yvan-C.R.A.Z.Y.) who finds tries to deal with feelings he may be having for his cousin's boyfriend. His Pasty Cline-worshipping father, Gervais (Michel Côté) and coddling mother Laurianne (Danielle Proulx) are constantly at odds over how to ensure he turns out a card-carrying, hockey fanatic, straight son. The characters are portrayed with care, and the script has a lot to offer. Still, it never commits to anything. Principally, the story is about Zac and his inability to come to grips with his real identity. There is so much else thrown in to detract and divert, increasingly it becomes harder to feel concern for him and his dilemma.
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