Review of Crazy (2000) by Josh M — 18 Nov 2011

CRAZY is one of the finest films ever produced in Canada, let alone French Canada. It is note and picture perfect. Above all else, this is a family movie, albeit not one for very young kids. Jean Marc Vallee is a prodigy and a visual and editing genius. The cast are wall to wall superb, but the performances of Michel Cote and Danielle Proulx as the loving, working class parents of a brood of five boys are deep, funny, and profoundly human. The subtle, handsome and charismatic Marc-Andre Grondin as Zac, the sexually confused protagonist has a huge future ahead of him.

On paper, this may look like a 'coming of age' or 'coming out' movie about growing up gay, and that is indeed the main conflict of the film. However, the family, all of them, are a living, breathing, loving and flawed unit. The sexual identity theme is incidental to what is a much larger and more meaningful message about family, love and acceptance. What Vallee shows in his script is an empathy and understanding of a wide array of different points of view; generations, and varying levels of self-awareness.

The 60s and 70s setting, (this is my own era, so I'm qualified) is staged in a completely convincing, organic and restrained way. It's never cheesy or ironic nostalgia. The songs by Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Charles Aznavour and especially Patsy Cline are contextually perfect, and support the drama and characters seamlessly. Valee's occasional flights of fancy and surrealism are just the right amount of seasoning to a mostly realistic film, but are never excessive. The 'Sympathy for the Devil' dream sequence is celebratory, joyful and extremely pertinent to a changing society, (in particular a changing Quebec which at the time is abruptly transitioning away from the dominant influence of the Catholic church).

I could not recommend this film highly enough. It lives in the same pantheon as coming of age cinema classics like 'The 400 Blows', 'Fanny and Alexander' or 'My Life as a Dog', in my humble opinion. Don't miss it.