Growing up in the 1970s in a devout Catholic household, a teenager wrestles with his sexuality in this French Canadian film that placed director Jean-Marc Vallée of 'Wild' fame on the map. The film gets off to a very good start, starting on the protagonist as a young boy with a lot of quirky comedy and some magic realism as he discovers he has gift for calming his baby brother, as he is told by a Tupperware lady that he has special healing powers and as he prays to not be a "fairy" while loving toys that girls tend to like. Wide-eyed Émile Vallée (the director's own son) is also solid in this brief turn. And it is brief because the majority of the film focuses on his teen and tween years, which are invariably less magical. Points of interest include a crush on a female cousin, the intimacy he also enjoys from smoking with other boys and his father's insistence in 'curing' any homosexuality. These issues tend to get repeated again and again though and soon lose their freshness. The quirky comedy of the initial section is mostly absent too. There are some nifty scenes in which he goes on an impromptu pilgrimage, but ultimately the film feels longer than it is. Marc- André Grondin as the teen/tween protagonist is certainly quite good; so is Michel Côté as his father throughout. In short, the film is watchable until the end, even if the first section seems far more powerful than what follows.

Zac Beaulieu is born the fourth son of Gervais on Christmas 1960. Their relationship starts with Gervais dropping his son. At 7, he's the only one able to quiet colic newborn Yvan. Gervais catches Zac in his wife's dress and fears Zac becoming unmasculine. The Tupperware Lady tells Zac's religious mother Laurianne that he's blessed by God. He's Laurianne's favorite. She considers him the seventh son after three miscarriages. That along with his Christmas birth assures her of his gift. It's Christmas 1975. The eldest son Christian is a bookworm, the second Raymond is a biker, the third Antoine is a jock, and Zac is an atheist while developing his homosexual feelings.I really love the first thirty minutes. It's got a quirky, charming vibe of the young Zac. It's funny. I love the parents' relationship and the father son struggle. Once it gets to his teenage years, he's moody and well, he's a teenager. The charm is not the same. It's different and not as much fun. I don't particularly like teen Zac. His adventures meander a bit. I would have preferred staying in his childhood years.

The Toronto International Film Festival has revised its Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time once again, and of the four new additions I hadn't yet seen, CRAZY (2005) is the first I've sought out. Set in Quebec in the '60s and '70s, CRAZY is a family drama revolving around Zac, fourth of five brothers, who gradually realizes he's gay. His father, once close to the small child, becomes disapproving of how "soft" he's turning out, moving on to outright homophobia when he catches Zac with another boy. Zac also conflicts with an older brother who becomes a second shame to the family as a drug addict.CRAZY, which won the Genie Award for best film of 2005, is a solid and honest drama, partly realistic and tied together with themes of Christmas, miracles, songs and sexual identity. It's hardly the first film to come along about homosexuality, but it still came at a relevant time, with the debate about gay marriage in Canada reaching its boiling point. Homophobia is an old issue, but at the same time, the film's politics are a little more modern than classic Quebec cinema invoking themes of nationalism. I don't think the purpose was so much to justify homosexuality (today's audiences are a little more tolerant already), but to make the viewer feel for what it's like to have a family break down over intolerance and heal.CRAZY isn't better than Les Bons Debarras (1979), booted off the Top 10 this year, or Incendies (2010), which was dubiously snubbed. Still, it's a quality film and recommended.

This is a family drama that focuses on Zac as he matures from childhood to a young adult in Quebec in the 70s and 80s. Zac has four brothers, a doting mother, and a domineering father. The main dynamic centers on Zac's struggle to come to terms with his homosexuality. His homophobic father causes him much agony and forces him into a state of denial. He tries a heterosexual relationship, beats up on a gay schoolmate, and sees a psychiatrist--but his underlying sexuality keeps resurfacing. I thought Marc-André Grondin, as the teenage Zac, did a fine job in portraying Zac's confusion and anguish without overplaying those emotions.Initially the movie has a light tone, particularly the scenes where Zac is a young boy, but as the movie goes on the conflict between Zac and his father turns serious. And there is little humor in the depiction of Zac's brother Raymond sinking deeper and deeper into drug addiction.The story is not all that unusual (I'm sure similar situations are being lived out in thousands of households as I write this in 2010), but the presentation here is most engaging and believable.I did not get the multiple meanings of the title until the final credits.