L'amour est un chien de l'enfer

A very nice debut by Flamish director in which he exposuse the works of writer Bukowski to the film world.

In the first part you see young harry being exposed to young male fantasies, which most guys of his age would not dare to do. You would say highly unlikely...but yet we all fantasies the same way.

The second part is set in his high school years. Harry now a student with the worlds' biggest acne problem. Really no joke, I myself had acne, but this guy... The acne was onpurposely over reacted, to give a real stamp on how hell teenage life can be(especially when you have acne, it really ruines your youth/life).

The third part shows a real black page out of the life of Harry. He know is a heavy alcoholic who meets an old friend, both get drunk and decide to....well for that you can better watch the film.

A very nice film with some great funny parts in the different timeperiodes. Very poetic, nice rock 'n roll music in the background (typical Belgium). Only sometimes the camerawork is really bad (intro at the cinema with the princess), but thats only a few (minor disadvantages) times. (Opposite)Check out the great camerawork at the end of part 1 (the face of harry) and the beginning of part 2, starting from the radio.

Enjoy

Loosely based on the writings of Charles Bukowski,the first segment is actually based on a couple of paragraphs from a short story by John Fante,Bukowski's favorite writer. Director Dominique Deruddere has let his imagination run wild,so what the audience ends up with is a vision of Bukowski living John Fante's childhood, in the European countryside.Gene Bervoets looks very much like Buk's description of himself in "Ham on Rye" and other writings.The soundtrack is great.An interesting coming of age tale.

When it exploded onto screens in the mid 1980's, Oscar® nominated director

Dominique Deruddere's film CRAZY LOVE divided critics and audiences as few

films before or since.

Championed by Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, the film was picked

up for US distribution. Stars like Madonna and Sean Penn attended the LA

premiere. But the films shocking subject matter and startling imagery were too rich a combination for audiences at the time. The film vanished from sight,

becoming an instant cult classic - much written about but seldom seen and now reappraised as one of the most underrated films of the 1980's.

Taking his cue from stories by cult American author Charles Bukowski,

Deruddere's film tells the story of a man's life via three nights, spread over 20 years. We see his hero, Harry Voss, first as a romantic young boy of 12, then as an acne ridden teenager, lost in unrequited love, and finally as a drink sodden drop out, for whom no act is too dreadful to contemplate...with terrible and yet deeply moving consequences.

It's a film that, once seen, is never likely to be forgotten. A film with a unique, bitter sweet and poetic mood that manages to be funny and tragic at the same

time. A minor masterpiece.

I can assure you that Mondo Macabro is truly the wild side of cinema. The flicks these guys dish out are of all levels of genre's. Drama, horror, exploitation, euro, thriller, cult, etc.. Nice tot see someone hand out films that are of quality from all walks of life. Crazy love is all about the other walks of life.

O.K., I can understand growing up in a town way out in Belgium somewhere in 55, attending local cinema and becoming enthralled amongst the gleaming screen of persuasion. I'm talking on a male perspective, sorry ladies. You come running home with the thoughts of kissing, petting and other boner reacting thoughts. You hang out with a next door pal which is a little older and tosses you into the whole scheme of things, of supposed love making. You both fail miserably but on you must go. That I can understand. What I can't understand is how someone could freely talk masturbation when you where such a pre teen, then have your buddy whip it out and throw one back in front of you? I don't think so. The director had that happen, and it was his brother. So maybe it could happen but look where he is from. Well, On to 1962, a few years older and a complexion only a mother could love. You feel really bad, you understand what he going through and he still can't land that lady he most certainly loves.

On to the 70's and by now, you would think he would at least have found Mrs. right? Wrong, still no luck and no a drunken loser. He hooks back up with old time budd and for old times sake. Lets steal a corpse and see what he does. You have to see what true love would do to you.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film, other then the jerk of class I was drenched in emotion. Kind of like an after school special if you will. The director talks a little about the flick and his reasoning. Sure, he knows what he's talking about but when he fessed up to the brother showing brother, or brother watching brother part of his life. I sort of turned the rest off and couldn't get that vision out of my head. A disturbing touch to an already disturbing story. An off the beaten path for this label to come out with but cult is cult and the wild side of cinema needs a home somewhere.

Crazy Love is a little known eighties cult film that traces a boy's life through three key events. The film is Belgian produced; based around three stories by cult writer Charles Bukowski and brought to life by Belgian director Dominique Deruddere. Crazy Love does not have a particularly good reputation these days, although it apparently caused quite a stir upon its release and that isn't all that surprising considering the subject matter; although to be honest, nothing in this film particularly shocked or offended me. The central character is Harry Voss, who we first meet as a young kid who is learning about sex from his friend, with the aide of a few loose women. We then pick up a few years later and Henry is a schoolboy, befallen by an extreme case of acne that leads to him being rejected by the opposite sex and ridiculed by his peers. The third and final chapter sees the once bright young boy as a drunken waster who cuts a stark contrast to the boy we saw in both the first and second chapters of the film.

The three parts of the film are all incredibly different and the director succeeds in creating an atmosphere to carry this off. Crazy Love is a 'coming of age' film; a favourite subject among Hollywood 'cookie cutter' filmmakers, but this one is about as far from the mainstream as you can get. The first segment is the lightest of the three, but still packs a punch as we watch the subject discovering sex and eventually getting acquainted with his hand. The second segment focuses more on the idea of teenage alienation and sees the film take a darker turn as the sensitive young man is rejected by all the girls because of his deforming acne. This provides a nice opener to the third section, which is completely dark and dismal and probably what earned the film its reputation - the ending is not something that many will forget in a hurry! Overall, it's not really surprising that this film hasn't gone down as an all time 'classic, but it certainly has its place among cult fans and that isn't surprising either. Be sure to catch this film if you want something a bit different!