Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Crazy Love / USA / 2007

Ah, love. Everlasting muse of the poets, scourge of singers, money-derrick of American industry. You drive us to alcohol and ice cream and crappy television; because of you we buy cheap chocolate, write bad poems, and annoy friends for hours on the telephone. Our daily lives are clogged by James Blunt and Harlequin novels and eHarmony ads, all offering sugared sermons about your glories. And sometimes, those rare sometimes, we pay someone to throw acid in the face of our beloved, all for the sake of attaining you.

Which is what Burt Pugach did. And when Burt Pugach, a lawyer, went to prison, he took up the cases of his fellow inmates and got convicted murderers released on technicalities. He sent his beloved Linda a check for four-thousand dollars, all earned by defending his new and incarcerated clientele, and simultaneously secured his own release. He then proposed marriage on the local news, all while Linda sat in her apartment listening, scarred and blind. And so they married.

The one resounding question, which creeps slowly into focus as Dan Klores’ documentary proceeds, is whether or not Burt and Linda Pugach truly love one another. After thirty-some years joined in matrimony—rocky and ribald, not exactly wedded bliss—Linda’s friends seem to challenge any notion that the two share a devoted affection, while Burt’s acquaintances seem removed from the entire affair. We see Burt and Linda arguing over dinner, arguing at home, and even arguing during the interviews. And while the film ends on a rare image of togetherness—of them dancing hand-in-hand—we’re left with questions about them. I’d like to think that Burt and Linda, after so many years, sincerely adore one another, and their marriage isn’t something fabricated. But love, as the singers say, is a fickle thing.

by Adam Balz | Source: DVD
19 Oct 2007 12:16 PM | Submit Comment