Absolutely Fantastic

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The acting in this movie is really good.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I'm Belgian…and generally not too proud of the movies that are made here. Either they're vulgar comedies revolving on simply one lame gag or either they're uninspired, wannabe-Hollywood garbage flicks. There are some exceptions, luckily, like Poelvoorde's "C'est Arrivé pres de chez Vous" (our country's only real cult film) and Deruddere's "Crazy Love", of which I feel that it can easily compete with the greatest and most sophisticated international social-dramas ever made. For his long-feature debut, Deruddere based himself on the glamorous work of Charles Bukowski and thus "Crazy Love" tells the chronicles of a man during three essential stadiums of his life. As a child, Harry Voss (Geert Hunaerts) is naive but very curious about love and sexual relationships. A more aged friend teaches him everything there is to know about how to approach a girl and – in case those methods fail – how to temper feelings of lust through masturbation. In the second and most compelling 'chapter' of the movie, Harry (now played by the utterly talented Josse De Pauw) grew out a fairly intelligent adolescent, yet he still hasn't experienced physical love due to a severe (better make that EXTREMELY severe) case of acne. He's too embarrassed to leave his house since boys mock him and girls show no interest in him at all. Even though he still has one close and supportive friend, Harry slowly becomes a bitter, introvert and pessimistic person. At age 33, Harry Voss is an antipathetic drunk, unable to express emotions and developing perverted urges like harassment or – even worse – necrophilia. The astonishing climax is one that'll leave everybody speechless… Although surely sounding like one hell of a devastating and depressing film, "Crazy Love" actually isn't too 'heavy' to look at. Deruddere admirably succeeds in telling the demanding premise very wittily and almost comically. The pace is rather slow, but never boring and the character drawing of Harry Voss is truly fascinating. The inspirational work of Charles Bukowski's is processed with great respect. The matter would easily lean itself to make it a sleazy and exploitative film, yet Deruddere's style remains sophisticated and truthful at all times. Since the story spreads itself over three decades, the film required different atmospheres and scenery. Especially the 'hip' sixties is masterfully illustrated, with great contemporary music and a well-crafted high school prom. In short: "Crazy Love" is a near-perfect motion picture and every person slightly interested in cinema is destined to love it. My only regret was that it's so short! 90 minutes never passed by so fast.

This film deserves more props. It is absolutely charming, and in a very poetic way. The filming in itself is very smooth with each transition and has great purpose in every scene each of which converge, including the fine details. The shadows of the spreading rain drops during the masturbation scene is phenomenal. The build-up and execution of the dance scene is also about as romantic as I have seen.I can see why this film did not get the props it deserves. It has some controversial material, though it is all executed with superb and poetic class. The diversity of the three sequences are also extraordinary. Very effective imagery, and a story that is told so well that you know where it is going at the end. There are no tricks, just a heartfelt love story with Bukowskian flair. And after watching a documentary on Hank, I can say that this captures the work of the true man inside, not the reputation that he developed as a womanizer during one stage of his life.

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.

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.