Crazy Love (1987)

Three 'Bukowskian' torrid nights in the life of a man in search of love. Harry Voss, 12, is young and naive. Love, for him, is romantic love between princes and princesses demurely kissing ... See full summary »

Director:

Dominique Deruddere

Writers:

Charles Bukowski (novels), Dominique Deruddere

Stars:

Josse De Pauw, Geert Hunaerts, Michael Pas

7 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Josse De Pauw	...	Harry Voss's father / Harry Voss at 19 / Harry Voss at 33
Geert Hunaerts	...	Harry Voss at 12
Michael Pas	...	Stan
Gene Bervoets	...	Jeff
Amid Chakir	...	Bill
Florence Béliard	...	The Princess / The corpse
Karen van Parijs	...	Moeder van Harry
Carmela Locantore	...	Gina
An Van Essche	...	Liza Velani
Doriane Moretus	...	Marina
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
François Beukelaers	...	The doctor
Erik Burke	...	A student
Chris Cauwenbergs	...	The tall sailor (as Chris Cauwenberghs)
Dirk Celis	...	A policeman
Guido Colonne	...	The headmaster

Storyline

Three 'Bukowskian' torrid nights in the life of a man in search of love. Harry Voss, 12, is young and naive. Love, for him, is romantic love between princes and princesses demurely kissing each other on the mouth. His father is a hero who kidnapped his mother and married her on a lonely mountain peak... Later on, he'll do the same. But Harry has a lot to learn. He also learns that there are handsome men and ugly ones, that love can be unfair. That one can find comfort in drinking... but above all he learns that man is capable of anything - absolutely anything! - to get his fair share of love.

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Plot Keywords:

outcast | coming of age | necrophilia | based on short film | surrealism | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Belgium

Language:

Dutch Italian

Release Date:

1987 (Belgium)

Also Known As:

Love Is a Dog from Hell

Filming Locations:

Brussels, Brussels-Capital, Belgium

Box Office

Gross USA:

$119,919

Company Credits

Production Co:

Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Kabinet van de Gemeenschapsminister van Cultuur, Multimedia

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Belgian censorship certificate: 12 (DVD release).

User Reviews

A coming of age story that is a bit different from the norm!

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!