Review of Crazy (2000) by Tristan G — 22 Oct 2009

A Perfect Film. One of the Best I've Ever Seen!

C.R.A.Z.Y. is about the second to youngest child in a French Canadian family of five brothers and two parents. The brothers, in order of oldest to youngest, are named Christian, Raymond, Antoine, Zach, and Yvan. The film is about Zach, who was born on December 25, 1960, and who is considered by his parents to be some sort of Jesus miracle child. The film races his life from his early youth and his great respect and love for his dad and how he was afraid to go to summer camp, to his teen years in which he encountered a lot of problems with school and with his oldest brother Christian who always tried to defend him and his father's problems with his sex life, to around his mid-twenties in which he finally lets things flow like they should. In the course of his life, he listens to a lot of Pink Floyd, pretends to have a female love interest, and is always considered to be different from his other siblings and is in some way a miracle child. However, the film is narrated by Zach, and this allows his to tell why he always hated Christmas since he never got any birthday presents that he wanted, although it's usually because the things that he wants are strollers and dresses and stuff. The film presents us with a very charming look at life while at the same time providing us with a kind of film making that is ambitious and unique. It's hard to make a film as epic as this one because people expect it to have major world events in them. What this film does instead is provide a kind of childlike aspect of the world and how fragile and sad being young and different really is. It's so honest in the way that it presents itself and it's so precise in the way it's executed that I feel it's the perfect film. And I know that epic films usually have a tendency to have everything done right, I mean look at 2001, or FORREST GUMP. This film allows us to re-experience these sort of glances or moments that we all have in which we just aren't sure what to think or how to react. Most of us usually end up lying or trying to avoid toying with people because they just don't know what people want from them, but some people can't do these things because these actions haven't really occurred to them as a normal way to deal with things. The theme of this film mainly consists of ideas around that. This film is a comedy and yet at the same time it's a real tearjerker. A lot of the film is an emotional roller coaster ride, with a few parts being very hard to watch simply because it was so sad. The way the film mixes all these ideas together with family values, youth culture, and friendship, it can almost feel like more than just an epic film about the good times and the bad times of a super religious family. It makes it feel almost like a quest, like a fantasy movie of some sort. The film can be taken so many ways, but in the end, it's about family and how family is where the heart is and will always be, through the good times and the bad. I absolutely cannot recommend this gem of a film enough. It's simply just a perfect masterpiece. It changed my life and the way I look at it. Just watch it. It's an experience.