The Cinematheque

New Restoration

“One of the most thrilling high-wire acts in recent Canadian cinema.”

Adam Nayman, Eye Weekly

Jean-Marc Vallée’s colourful coming-of-age/coming-out tale, a crowd-pleasing classic of 21st-century Canadian cinema, has been unseeable for some years. Zac (Marc-André Grondin) is a sexually confused teenager growing up Catholic in suburban Montreal in the 1970s. His mom (Danielle Proulx) is comically convinced that Christmas-born Zac, who likes bouncing around his bedroom lip-synching David Bowie, has God-given powers. His old-school dad (Michel Côté), himself given to lip-synching Charles Aznavour, worries that Zac may be a ​“fairy.” Vallée’s buoyant, bittersweet film displays great cinematic verve; the period production design by Patrice Vermette is spot-on perfect. A commercial and critical hit, C.R.A.Z.Y. won eleven Genie Awards, and gained Vallée an entrée to Hollywood (his U.S. credits include Dallas Buyers Club, Wild, and HBO’s Big Little Lies). The expiration of (costly) music rights—C.R.A.Z.Y. has a killer soundtrack of classic rock and pop—saw the film withdrawn from circulation in 2015. (We couldn’t show it in 2017’s Canada on Screen program, our year-long celebration of essential Canadian cinema). Those rights were recently renewed, allowing Vallée’s integral C.R.A.Z.Y. to return—in this brand-new restoration! In French with English subtitles.

Canada on Screen – Canada’s 150 Essential Moving-Image Works

“One of the Top Ten Canadian Films of All time.”

2015 TIFF Poll

“Bold, irreverent, refreshing … Fantastic performances, sharp wit, and a raw honesty breathe new life into the rites-of-passage drama.”

Liz Beardsworth, Empire