C.R.A.Z.Y.
(2005/Genius)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C- Film: B-
Jean-Marc
Vallée’s C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005) is an
ambitious coming of age story (co-written by Vallée and Francois Boulay, who is
being semi-autobiographical here) about young Zac Beaulieu and his five
brothers. They have good parents and a
good home, but all have their different issues, made more apparent in the
middle of the counterculture in France starting in the late 1960s. Instead of the tired, dysfunctional and phony
versions of the period that plaster over neo-Conservative pseudo-family ideas
or wallow in dysfunction, the film is more honest than most in its portrayal of
the lives of the family.
Zac
(Marc-André Grondin in a strong performance) is the odd man out since it turns
out he is slowly learning that he is bi-sexual, but with the Glam movement, it
is not totally as apparent to many, except to him. Besides this awkward situation, he has a
brother who is hypersexual with the ladies and deals with his strict Catholic
parents all in ways that tent to ring true for the most part.
Where the
film goes wrong is by not exploring further what is happening before it,
substituting soul searching with silly edits, Kubrickian slow motion moments
that make no sense (complete with classical music similar to Kubrick’s films)
and then there are the use of classic records by David Bowie, Patsy Cline (very
obvious, so you can guess which hit we bet), Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and
one-hit wonder Stories iconic 70s classic Brother
Louie.
The time
period for the songs is right and the idea that the freedom of the music and
that time is a plus to the film and character motives, but the use does not
always gel, though is far from an MTV clip-vid mentality. With that kind of royalty money and such an
opportunity Vallée has that most filmmakers only dream of, it is a shame to not
see full fruition of the sound and image.
Even when it does not work, C.R.A.Z.Y.
is an interesting failure. When it does,
it is very good.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image was shot on film by the solid
cinematographer Pierre Mignot (who lensed many of Robert Altman’s later works),
without any color-gutting, stupid handheld pretensions or other giveaways of an
amateur or especially hack. Detail and
color are a problem with the transfer, but you can tell form the uniformity of
the print used that this looked really good in 35mm. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has surprisingly
healthy Pro Logic surrounds and makes us wonder if there is a stronger 5.1 mix
(DTS?) available. The end credits say
Dolby Surround in an unusual use of the Dolby Digital logo and maybe a later HD
release will show us. The only extra is
the decent trailer, but this would have been a prime candidate for them, even
when the film fails.
- Nicholas Sheffo
