loumiles-25568 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

Michael Neumann This handsome triptych of stories by LA gutter poet Charles Bukowski is an oddly clinical and artless meditation on the subject of sex, following one young man's pathetic attempts to cope with his sexual frustration throughout his life. As a child he learns the lonely joys of masturbation; as a teenager he mummifies his face to hide the ultimate outbreak of acne (and dulls his libido with alcohol); and as an adult he commits suicide after enjoying a beautiful one night stand with an obliging corpse (roll the credits, please). But what might have been an ironic (if perverse) short film is stretched to feature length in way too cautious and deliberate a manner, moving from Point A to Point B in its protagonist's brief but miserable life without much in the way of motivation or purpose. Worse yet, the lush, coffee table photography doesn't exactly suit the sordid details of the story, in much the same way that Bukowski's skid row prose doesn't translate well to suburban Flemish. (My one-word summary above is a nod to the film's alternate, and much better, title: 'Love is a Dog From Hell')

valis1949 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.

The_Void 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!