L'Amour Est un Chien de l'Enfer

Rating:
Summary: Lost Masterpiece
Review: When it exploded onto screens in the mid 1980's, first time director Dominique Deruddere's film CRAZY LOVE divided critics and audiences as few films before or since. Those who loved it, did so with a passion; those who hated it, thought it one of the most disgusting things they'd seen in a long time. On its US release, the film was championed by Madonna, Sean Penn and Francis Ford Coppola. But ultimately it proved too controversial for mass acceptance, and never received the recognition it deserved. Now reappraised as one of the most underrated films of the 1980's, CRAZY LOVE makes its DVD debut in a stunning new anamorphic HD transfer from the original negative.

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 15 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 same time. A minor masterpiece, ripe for rediscovery on DVD.