crazy love, i saw this movie In my teens and it really affected me emotionally, it is a sad movie acted well, and I'm a huge bukowski fan, this movie often gets looked over, i think in tone it is actually one of the best adaptations of any of his work, especially the third act. (love is a dog from hell) the original title. deals with the material spot on. i have told a lot of my friends about it,but it seems very hard to find, if your a charles bukowski fan, i think this film is a must see. be warned though this movie is for adults only, as the material is pretty extreme. beautiful, ugly, satisfying movie. if you cant find a DVD copy, check your TV guides in Australia as you maybe lucky like me and see it on sbs TV

LOVE IS A DOG FROM HELL (a.k.a CRAZY LOVE) (Dominique Deruddere - Belgium 1987).Three Bukowskian tales set in a Belgian, mostly rural, setting. How about that? Despite good reviews upon its release, winning several awards and getting support by Hollywood heavyweights Sean Penn and Francis For Coppola, the film vanished into obscurity almost immediately after its release. Perhaps it was bad timing, because Barbet Schroeder's star-studded BARFLY was released almost simultaneously. Who knows? By any chance, this film is a beauty, clearly deserving wider attention.The film has a three-act construction, all set around the live of Harry Voss, focusing on his difficult search for love and affection. The first act is set in 1955 and follows Harry when he's twelve years old. He is struck by his first notions of true love when he sees a dream-like film in cinema, only to be helped out of his dream by a more mature friend who claims the only reason people get married is to get laid. Remember, it's fifties' rural Flanders we're talking here. In the second act, in the early sixties, Harry is a shy 19-year old, his face horribly disfigured by a grotesque form of acne. When driving in the bus, he is stared at by all the children, while the adults look away. There's a high school dance, but Harry can't get a girl. In the third act we get a more literal adaptation of Bukowsky's THE COPULATING MERMAID OF VENICE, CA., when Harry is a down-on-his-luck alcoholic, devoid of any aspirations, spending most of his time in shady bars. When he meets an old acquaintance, they go on a joined drinking binch and rehash old memories while patrolling the foggy streets. In their drunken frenzy ("for old time's sake") they decide to steal a body from an ambulance they see on a deserted street and take it to an abandoned house. This makes - how morbid it may sound - for one of the most beautiful and touching scenes of the film. The ending is a beauty. In the first act the film starts of a bit slowly with some awkward moments. I found the second and third acts the strongest, but all three segments show remarkable cinematic harmony. Beginning and ending the film with nicely contrasted mirror images of "the Princess" running across some dimly lit corridor and Raymond van het Groenewoud's haunting musical theme, it makes for a very neat composition indeed. Cars also feature prominently in all three segments. Most of the key scenes take place in or around cars. It all a very American feel to it, especially the second act. A homecoming dance, a prom, lampoons, American cars, it's small town USA transferred to Belgium. The lead performance by Josse de Pauw who plays the adult Harry in the second and third acts, is a joy to watch. All the more recommended, because of Mondo Macabro's excellent DVD-release. A bit of an oddity in their usual catalogue of all kinds of exploitational sewers of world cinema (which I often like, don't get me wrong), their treatment of the film is excellent, with a luminous new transfer and jam-packed with extras. Two documentaries, the "making-off" with some great footage of Bukowski and his thoughts on the film, a filmed interview with director Deruddere, a text essay on Flemish cinema, and Mondo Macabro's usual trailer reel of the wilder side of world cinema to top it all off. With an almost surrealist setting and touching subjects like necrophilia, it's not a film most audiences will embrace easily, but any fan of Bukowski, Belgian cinema or good cinema in general should really give this one a try. It might be a far cry from Bukowsky's usual settings but liberal interpretations usually make for far more interesting films. This is worth seeing. Damn, the man even approved of it himself!Camera Obscura --- 9/10

Next to Erik Van Looy, Dominique Deruddere may well be our, at least internationally, best known director. With his "Iedereen beroemd" or "Everybody Famous" as it is called in English, he was even nominated for an Oscar in the category 'Best Foreign Language Film'. Personally I haven't seen that movie yet, but I liked "Hombres complicados", the movie that he made before "Everybody Famous", a lot. Since then I've decided that I'll try to see all his other movies as well and this "Crazy Love" is the first step into the right direction.The story of this movie has been divided into three time periods. The first period is situated in the 1950's, when Harry Vos is still a young kid. He's already very interested in everything that has got something to do with love and sexual relationships, but doesn't really know anything about it. An older friend learns him everything there is to know about how to approach a girl and what to do when his method doesn't work. But in all his naivety, Harry finds it very hard to understand that the romantic world which he knows from the movies, doesn't exist in real life. To him the real world is an awful place. In the second part of the movie, we are in the 1960's. Harry has grown up into an intelligent adolescent, but he has one mayor problem. He suffers from an incredibly extreme form of acne, which makes that all people stare at him, that the boys laugh at him, that the girls don't want him and that he is afraid to appear in public. That's also the reason why he still hasn't experienced physical love. Even though he still has one close friend who supports him as much as he can, Harry slowly becomes a bitter, introvert and pessimistic person. In the third part, situated in the 1970's we see him again. This time he is a drunk who is unable to express his feelings towards anybody. When he meets an old friend and they leave a bar, they do something incredible. As as joke, they steal a corpse out of a motor hearse that is parked in front of a hospital and take it home with them. When they open the body bag, they see that this dead body isn't an old man or woman, but a young and very beautiful girl. Harry is so overcome by her beauty that he does the worst thing he could do with the body...In my opinion this movie was a bit of a slow starter and the first part (the 1950's) didn't always do it for me. Somehow I had the feeling that the story in that part could be developed better. But that 'problem' was easily overcome by the second and the third part. When you see in the second part how he suffers from his acne, you can only feel very sorry for him. And then he comes up with that excellent idea which allows him to dance with the girl of his dreams. That part was absolutely brilliant, funny and sad at the same time and I don't think that it will leave anybody untouched. The same about the third part, although this story is something completely different from the second. When I saw them steal that corpse, I had to laugh with it, but was disgusted by their behavior at the same time. And when you know that he has committed necrophilia, those feelings of disgust only increase. But than the director counters those feelings perfectly by letting him step into the sea, to disappear forever with the dead girl in his arms. Somehow that is a slap in your face and so touching at the same time. Really very strange.If you are interested in 'foreign' cinema (I mean non-Hollywood movies, because for us Belgians this isn't foreign of course), than you should definitely give this one a try. This isn't the kind of movie that will offer you some big explosions or car chases, but the emotional roller-coaster that it puts you on, the intriguing story and the good acting, will definitely do the trick. Belgium may not be known for its many quality movies, but this one certainly can stand a comparison with other European movies. I give it a 7.5/10.

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