One of the movies I wanted to see most this fall was the romantic drama Like Crazy, starring Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones. The story follows the young couple as they deal with a seemingly impossible long-distance romance after Jones’ character, Anna, overstays her visa and is banned from the U.S. as a result.
The techniques used in shooting this film are a rarity that we don’t often see coming from Hollywood anymore, like hand-held camera, long shots, long scenes and sparse music. It makes the story not only more realistic, but it also allows it to just tell itself—it doesn’t resort to fancy or special techniques to keep the tale moving. Most of the acting is improvised, and the film has no set script. In a lot of ways, this film seems more expository and naked then even the greatest sex scenes in other movies that are considered great romances.
This enthusiastic review comes from someone who has seen merely the film’s preview. Why, if I want to see this movie so badly – it was released on Friday October 28 – don’t I just see it?
Because, like many of the greatest movies I’ve ever heard of or seen, this movie was a limited release, which means it wasn’t available in every movie theater. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if the closest movie theater to me that was playing it weren’t in Manhattan, specifically at Broadway and West 68th Street. I am nowhere near Broadway and West 68th. In fact, I live exactly 60 miles away from that theater.
Since I don’t have a car, my only option for transportation to the city is the train…and no film-seeking desire in the world would entice me to spend $25 on a train ticket and another $15 on a movie ticket, just to get back on a train and go home.
So now I won’t be seeing Like Crazy, a film that has been a darling of the Independent film circuits, scoring the Grand Jury Prize for drama (awarded to director Drake Doremus) and a Special Jury Prize for dramatic acting by Jones at Sundance; the Hollywood Film Award for Jones and Spotlight Award for Yelchin at the Hollywood Film Festival; and Special Recognition for breakthrough Performance for Yelchin at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
And to be frank, I’m pretty pissed off, because while I enjoy seeing some of the movies we get in mass release, sometimes I can’t help but wonder why there is such a lack of independent and artistic films out here. I understand the point of limited release films; they wouldn’t always appeal to mass audiences, which would cause them to lose money by opening everywhere.
But why can’t a single theater out here play these movies? I mean, yes, Long Island is an island, but we’re not exactly uncivilized, underdeveloped or the size of a peanut. With a population of 7,400,000 people, we are quite densely populated at roughly 5000 people per square mile. So for an island so densely populated, why can’t we have one of our 56 movie theaters playing these movies?
All I can say is that I’m sick and tired of not being able to see movies that are genuinely worth my time and viewing, ones that are real and artistic. Sure, I’ve seen great movies that were released en masse in theaters, but never ones of quite the same caliber as Like Crazy. I’m not asking for every theater to carry the movie. But couldn’t just one, or perhaps two, of these multiplexes with at least 15 screens play a smaller, more independent film?
Maybe one of these days my wish will come true, and I’ll finally get to see a movie I want.
Lauren DuBois
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Saw it last night in an Atlanta preview. Great characters, especially the dad. Well told story, but not really a story worth telling. I grade it C plus.
Your point is valid. Nearly every movie plays here in Nashville, which, while lively and successful, is far, far away from the cultural meccas of this world. We have an independent cinema plus a multiplex that play the ‘small pictures’. So if we have them here, I am at a loss as to why they don’t play in a far more populous place such as Long Island.
Often times limited releases are done just so the film can be considered as part of the Oscar considerations for 2011. This is why so many “art” films get a limited release a few days before December 31 and the move into wider release after the new year.
Limited Releases can also be a good marketing tool to get the buzz out about a movie to make sure that when/if it hits the suburbs that people actually go see it. One reason big theatres don’t play more independent films is because few people see them. If dedicating one to four screens to indie fare worked in your area, they would do it. However, when they try to play an indie film nobody shows up. People can’t be picky about which indie films they do and do not want to see if they want them to become a regular part of a suburban environment.
I live in San Francisco and am luckily close to a number of “limited releases”. When I lived outside San Francisco I had to drive an hour there, pay $5 toll, $10 parking and an hour back. This is about the same as your train ride. There are still a great many movies that are only released in NY/LA — consider yourself lucky you have the option to take a train to see them.
Honestly though, I think the big problem in your area is that you are so close to Manhattan. The ability exists for you to go see a film you really really want to see. In Nashville they can direct that indie film going poplation to one or two theatres to make it profitable. I think since the Long Island crowd can be divided so easily makes it difficult for a theatre outside Manhattan to make enough money to justify the efforts.
Interesting that my original comments have been deleted, so I’ll ask again… how do you know “The techniques used in shooting this film are a rarity that we don’t often see coming from Hollywood anymore, like hand-held camera, long shots, long scenes and sparse music” if you haven’t seen the movie? Or that “it makes the story not only more realistic, but it also allows it to just tell itself?” Oh wait, you’ve seen the preview. Why see the entire movie then, since it seems you got everything you want out of the movie from the preview?
Truth of the matter is, distributors can, for the most part, judge how well a film is going to perform outside of the major metropolitan cities based on how well it performs in the major metropolitan cities. If people in Los Angeles and New York aren’t going to support a well-reviewed low-budget drama about two young adults dealing with love and separation, why would Fox Searchlight commit millions of dollars in prints and advertising to get a $250k movie in to hundreds or thousands of theatres?
It’s called Show BUSINESS for a reason. One won’t stay in business too long if one doesn’t carefully nurture the films that audiences will see while cutting loose the ones that didn’t perform as expected. The world of film distribution is littered with the carcasses of distributors who had minor successes with one or two movies, then decided to try and play with the big boys. Alive, Atlantic, Avenue, Cannon, Cinecom, Crown, DEG, Embassy, Empire, FilmDallas, Hemdale, Island, Lorimar, MCEG, New Century/Vista, New World, Orion, Palisades, Paragon, Skouras, Spectrafilm, TransWorld, Vestron… the list just goes on and on. Companies that released bomb after bomb in too many theatres on the break instead of following the proven method of platform releasing, and couldn’t survive.
Granted, companies like Fox Searchlight has some fairly deep corporate pockets to tap in to, but one can look at studio-owned or supported arms like Miramax, Warner Independent, Paramount Classics or Paramount Vantage (whose name is on Like Crazy, but was released through Paramount proper) that have closed shop in the past couple years because they tried to go over and beyond their mandated purpose. Fox Searchlight continues to survive because they know when to cut loose a film that might be fantastic but isn’t finding support amongst metropolitan viewers, like Another Earth, which I saw in Hollywood on a weekend trip from Northern California on its opening weekend. Great movie, fantastic reviews, but couldn’t get much support outside of Los Angeles and New York. Never played in more than 100 screens at any time, and had didn’t even have half the gross of Like Crazy does now after its third week of release.
Try having some patience. Or try petitioning your local arthouse theatre to play it. Get your friends to promise the theatre they will come see the movie if that theatre gives the movie a chance, and then make sure they live up to their promise. That is how you help a film like Like Crazy get released in to more theatres quicker.
“Like Crazy” is playing at Staller Center on Feb. 17 @9pm