Sheer BanalityBy John DeSando, WCBE's It's Movie Time
Linda Riss and Burt Pugach are both crazy in their own ways, and this sometimes outlandish, other times boring documentary about their love is spot on called Crazy Love.
He eventually throws acid in her face, blinds her, spends 14 years in prison bemoaning her loss, and she goes back to him. Now who's crazy? Both of them. Lovely as she was while a young woman in her early twenties, she seems so needy as to accept the blandishments of a questionable pursuer, albeit he had money as an attorney and dabbled in filmmaking. But the outrage is that she goes back after the attack, a verification of her insanity.
Director Dan Klores is successful in presenting testimonials from some characters only slightly less eccentric than the crazy lovers. That more than one of these talking heads actually sanction the couple getting back together should tell you they are crazy themselves. One is a female senior citizen with a leathery face that shines in the camera, and more than one has a turkey neck that cries for a turtleneck. Pretty ugly stuff all around.
But it is the sheer banality of the couple's coupling that keeps the film from being great, a sense that these people cannot help themselves, thus mitigating their guilt and making them less than compelling for their helplessness. He continues to cheat on her, and she continues to accept his faults. But then, there are more normal couples who endure as well.
It's a crazy world out there.
John DeSando teaches film at Franklin University and co-hosts WCBE 90.5's It's Movie Time, which can be heard streaming at www.wcbe.org Fridays at 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm and on demand anytime. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com