This Week in Cinema (06.11.07)
Disturbing as it is, Crazy Love tries to make abuse funny
By Beth Capper
Published: June 11th, 2007 | 3:02pm
It's easy to see why director Dan Klores became attracted to Burt Pugach and Linda Riss as subjects for his documentary, Crazy Love. The couple made tabloid headlines in the ’50s when corrupt lawyer Burt hired three thugs to disfigure his ex-lover, Linda, by throwing acid in her face, and, 16 years later — after his 14-year jail sentence — got married. Their story is so compelling on its own that Klores had to do very little in the way of actual filmmaking— relying on talking heads’ interviews with the Pugachs and their friends, old tabloid headlines, and footage from trash talk shows to do the storytelling. All Klores had to do was edit it together and give it a catchy name.
Crazy Love is Klores’ first feature with major distribution, and it’s receiving rave reviews across the board. It's being marketed as a kind of Wuthering Heights–esque exploration of the obsessive nature of true love, with creepy New Yorker Burt cast as Heathcliff, while Linda assumes the often undesired role of Cathy. The problem is that we're not living on the Yorkshire Moors at the turn of the century, and one would have hoped — considering the role of women's liberation movements over the past 50 years — that we'd be beyond the notion that what a woman ultimately needs is a man — even if that man is a psychotic, controlling bully.
Crazy Love works off the idea that the Pugach’s story is an exceptional one. However, if you take away the flashy tabloid headlines, it becomes all too clear that this isn't exactly front-page news. The Pugach’s story is, unfortunately, not an uncommon occurrence — many women stay with and defend husbands who abuse them. The only difference is that some find out their husbands are abusers only after they’ve married them; whereas Linda Pugach knew for 20 years beforehand and still married hers.
Although it may not have been his intention, Klores does a very good job of legitimizing Pugach's violent behavior. For one, he allows Pugach, Riss and their friends to tell the story without bringing in any outside perspective. The way Klores presents Pugach makes light of his actions, and the film had almost every audience member at my screening in stitches, as most of the interviewees cracked jokes about Pugach's behavior as though throwing acid in someone's face was just a hilarious practical joke gone wrong.
There's a brief suggestion that Burt Pugach might be up to his old tricks when a girl whom he’s been cheating on Linda with comes forth and says he threatened her too. Instead of following this lead, however, Klores blusters through it, allowing Burt to refute her claims with no appeal to the other side.
Crazy Love is enjoyable, and, dare I say it, funny — at least, until you remember what it’s about.
Issue #35
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