SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

A Brilliant Conflict

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

CRAZY LOVE (Love Is A Dog From Hell) is a romantically disquieting and dismaying film by Flemish director,Dominique Deruddere, and is loosely based on Charles Bukowski's short story, "The Copulating Mermaid From Venice, California". Bukowski is often referred to as, "The Poet Laueate of Skid Row", and all of his work embraces the darker aspects of reality, and this film is certainly no exception. CRAZY LOVE is divided into three parts, and examines the life of the deeply flawed and conflicted individual, Harry Voss. In the first section, we witness Harry at the age of twelve as he begins to intuit the romantic possibilities of Love, and is introduced to the sordid mechanics of sex. And, in the second section, he is a senior in high school who tries to establish some kind of a romantic relationship with the opposite sex while dealing with a disfiguring case of acne. And, in the final section, Harry directly confronts the most perfect manifestation of his sexual and romantic desires. The film is a minor classic of Flemish cinema, and the Netlix disc contains an excellent Bonus Selection which offers an insightful conversation with the director, a short feature on the making of the film, and a brief description of the history of Belgium film-making. CRAZY LOVE is certainly not for everyone, but Bukowski has said that this film comes the closest to capturing the essence of his work.

this movie really has nothing to do with bukowski. there is the terrible acne, the yearning for love, and the alcoholism. other than that, when writer has made everything his own, and the people releasing this film should have billed it as "inspired by charles bukowski" not based of the poems of.it is told in 3 sections, and while the fist two sections are beautifully acted by the two boys/men playing "henry voss" (must not have gotten the rights to play henry chinaski), the 3rd and worst section is played by an actor trying to recreate Mickey Rourke in "Barlfy," only the make-up artists made him up to look even greasier. throw in masturbation with a 12 year old boy, a direct "elephant man" allusion, and an ending that makes one want to throw up, and you have a combination of ingredients that would make bukowski punch someone in the jaw. only i didn't even get that: i felt deflated and cheated. as a fan of bukowski's work, at arm's length, this is purely garbage.but i did get a kick out of thinking that it is possibly johnny depp playing guitar in the prom scene (which in bukowski's poem, he only looks through the window and observes, why the director decided to fictionalize this, i don't understand).rent this if you're a huge bukowski fan ready to be let down hard. it's in the same category of fante's "ask the dust" adaptation, about a struggling Italian writer in his teens, played by collin farrel.

When it exploded onto screens in the mid 1980's, Oscar® nominated directorDominique Deruddere's film CRAZY LOVE divided critics and audiences as fewfilms before or since.Championed by Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, the film was pickedup for US distribution. Stars like Madonna and Sean Penn attended the LApremiere. 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 sametime. A minor masterpiece.

This movie shows the life of Harry Voss, from being a child with a romantic vision of the world to becoming a frustrated alcoholic. Only the third part is based on the short story "The copulating mermaid of Venice, California" by Charles Bukowski. But its development is so intense that it required two other chapters in order to make it even more meaningful. It mixes nice and entertaining images with black, depressing scenes and the end might not be everybody's taste. As one of the songs of the movie puts it, love hurts but it can also kill. Although the film can be funny at times it is mainly sad and it will not leave any spectator indifferent.