Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Like Crazy

The forthcoming hit indie film of the autumn, which was premiered to great acclaim at Sundance, is Like Crazy, the story of "a British college student who falls for an American while studying abroad only to be separated from him when she's banned from the US after overstaying her visa."  From the trailer, it seems that he goes to visit her in the UK after she has left the States, but things do not go as smoothly as one might have hoped or imagined.

I'm not really into artsy cinema - never caught (500) Days of Summer and have no desire to spend £10 on The Tree of Life - but, obviously given the subject matter, I'm definitely going to drag Jon to see this when it comes out in London.  I even expect I'll need to bring tissues.




I know that a lot of my fellow expat bloggers as well as a good number of my readers have been in long distance relationships (or are currently navigating them).  I'd be interested to hear from any who are comfortable sharing what they think of the premise of this movie - would you go see it / does it speak to you?

I for one found myself with a bittersweet smile playing on my lips while watching the trailer; I can't count the number of times Jon was subjected to a tearful "um... hey" from across the Atlantic.  The line that really caught me, though, was this:  "It just doesn't feel like I'm part of your life... it feels like I'm on vacation."

6 comments:

  1. I'm crying just from the trailer! Thanks for sharing this Betsy. I hadn't heard about it, and I definitely want to see it - particularly as they are doing London/Los Angeles long distance, which is what we did for nearly a year.

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  2. It looks like a beautiful movie which I think like you say so many can relate. I only spent 6 months away from my BF (who I had only been going out with for 8 months but had been friends with for 2 years before that) when I came over to London on my lonesome. It was really hard been apart but at the tender age of 21 I think that time on my own made me part of who I am today. If he had come with me straight away I would have relied on him too much (as he had lived in England before and had friends). My worst day was in the first month when I just hadn't been able to call him because of phone card issues (wasn't staying in a place with a phone) and spent about £10 of money I didn't have to "speak" (translate as cry hysterically) for about a minute. We have our seven year anniversary this year.

    Think I might wait until it comes out on video so I can blubber at home without being judged ;)

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  3. I saw this movie a few months ago at a screening and I know I am totally biased as I have never been in love and hold immigration and visa regulations to the high regards, so I was totally blah on this movie. The whole back row of the theater were I was sitting just snarked on this movie the whole time.

    In my comments, I put down that this movie would appeal to high schoolers as the characters were immature with no regards to the big picture that they were dealing with. I won't spoil the situation, but if you can't follow the rules, I have no sympathy for you.

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  4. I love this, I didn't hear about this film til now. I think I will definitely try to see it, although I know I will be a bawling mess the whole way through! Me and my husband survived the heart-wrenching back and forth from England to D.C. for 5 years, the trailer really resonated with me!

    However, I do agree with Rebecca that the immigration rules are pretty clear and if you screw it up for yourself, you don't get a second chance. We always made to sure to do everything by the book (even though it sucked a lot at the time) cause you don't want to face a situation where you get banned for 10 years or more. I don't have much sympathy for people who purposely try to get around it.

    But, at the very least, it's sure to be a tug-at-the-heartstrings romance for people in American-British relationships (there are more out there than you might think!)

    Thanks for the movie tip!

    Amanda
    "American AngloFUN"
    www.amandamolly.blogspot.com

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  5. @Karen - can't even imagine! London/DC was hard enough, and you were on the other side of the country! Glad it turned out well :)

    @Michelle - so right, I think that these things really are character-building (as cliché as that phrase is!)

    @Rebecca - definitely afraid I might snark, too. I think I may have outgrown my Garden State self, but probably not! I'm a sap, what can I say :)

    @Amanda - Kleenex all the way!

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  6. Haha, laughing at all the "Eh, she broke the visa rules, she's an idiot" comments. That was exactly my first reaction when I read your description! But even so, the trailer was beautiful. :)

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