So here’s a story that I can relate too personally:
how the course of true love was knocked off-kilter because one of the lovers was
American and the other a Brit and they were the subject to all the red-tape of
immigration restrictions. The fact that
one of them overstayed their visa didn’t help their case, but it did add to the
whole drama.
They meet as students in LA: two very regular kids who
very quickly fall for each just before they are due to graduate. The plan is that Anna will then go back to the
UK and apply to convert her Student Visa into a more regular one that will
allow her to come back and pick up the pieces again, and Jacob too. Trouble is
when push comes to shove she cannot bear to leave Jacob alone for the whole summer
and so she stays. When she does
eventually leave only to return again, her Visa violation means that she is not
allowed back into the country and is immediately deported.
Absence makes the heart grow finder. For a while.
Then the urge to carry on with another life takes over. Then when this isn’t quite as wonderful as
what they had, Anna and Jacob try to get back together again. This time they decide to marry but even then
their visa problems cannot be sorted immediately, and they are forced to go
their separate ways yet once again and into the arms of others waiting in the
wings.
It is a sweet and gentle modern romance about two very nice kids
trying to make it work. This very
refreshing wee indie movie has a very natural flow to it, and I have since
discovered that the actors were working from a 50 page outline from writer/director Drake Doremus and thus improvised portions. It won the Grand Jury Award at Sundance, and
at the same time Felicity Jones won an Award for her very understated
performance as Anna.
This is one for all those who have a soft spot for a good love story. In real life my own story had a happy ending, but
maybe they left it too late in Like Crazy for that.
★★★★★★★★
★★★★★★★★
