Embedded Files
Title: Mad Love
Year: 2008
Duration: 11 minutes
Tagline: A melancholic reflection on loneliness and regret.
Type: Short Film
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Mystery, Drama
CAST
Actor: Marjorie Kilpatrick
Role: Lead
Character: “SHE”
Actor: Steven G. Turner
Role: Lead
Character: “HE”
Actor: Afthen Pope
Role: Supporting
Character: “WIFE”
Actor: Halldor Enard
Role: Supporting
Character: “VOICE”
CREW
Mark Crutch (Director)
Mark Crutch (Adaptation)
Mark Crutch (Editor)
Cosnil James (Producer, Executive Producer)
Elizabeth Crutch (Producer, Executive Producer)
Ann Gelvin (Executive Producer)
Denis Santiago (Production Assistant, Assistant Director)
John Guare (Stage-play Author of Adapted Material “The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year”)
SUMMARY/DESCRIPTION
Mad Love is an experimental short film adapting John Guare's stage play The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year” into a surreal romantic comedy-drama, directed by visionary Mark Crutch. Under 30 minutes, it explores urban relationships through dreamlike sequences, highlighting African American experiences and diverse voices. Its accessible surrealism blends humor, introspection, and emotional depth, making it a standout in indie cinema for festivals and arthouse audiences.
SYNOPSIS
In the surreal tragicomedy *Mad Love*, loneliness collides with absurdity in a haze of delusion and desire. HE, a disheveled dreamer with a penchant for the bizarre, first encounters SHE in a sun-dappled park where SHE scatters crumbs for pigeons. Intrigued by her quiet solitude, HE approaches and politely requests the plastic trinket from her Crackerjack box, launching into a wild confession: his domineering wife pockets all his earnings, bends coins with her bare teeth, and peppers his feet with bullets from a rifle topped with a blue silencer. Bewildered yet captivated, SHE—a single woman yearning for connection amid the city's indifferent sprawl—agrees to meet him again, drawn into his orbit of eccentricity.
As their clandestine rendezvous unfold, HE unveils layers of his outlandish life. By day, HE serves as a "seeing-eye person" for blind dogs, guiding them through urban chaos. HE recounts a childhood horror: his sister Lucy lost an arm to a rampaging polar bear at the zoo, after which her body sprouted thick white fur. Yet contradictions mount—He eventually admits HE has no wife at all, his tales perhaps mere fabrications to mask his isolation. Their bond deepens with dark humor, as HE serenades her boisterously in crowded cafes, mortifying her while igniting sparks of tragic romance. SHE, haunted by her own unfulfilled dreams of marriage, clings to this mad affection, blurring the lines between fantasy and truth.
The narrative spirals into mystery when SHE spots a corpulent woman wheeling two homely children in a stroller, trailed by a sightless dog. Fragments align in her mind like shattered glass—coins, fur, silencers—triggering a chilling epiphany. Abruptly, the woman draws the rifle with its telltale blue muzzle and fires. HE and SHE crumple, fatally struck, their blood mingling on the pavement. But ambiguity lingers: Was any of it real? Did HE truly have a sister named Lucy? In this enigmatic tale, the search for love dissolves into absurdity, leaving reality forever in question.
A Mark Crutch adapted from the screenplay by John Guare, “The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year.”
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
To cast Mad Love, we need actors who can ground the absurd in deep, recognisable human longing. The performances must navigate the razor's edge between "quirky indie" and "psychological thriller," ensuring the audience never quite knows whether to laugh or recoil.
HE (Male, 20s–30s)
He possesses a disarming, manic charm that masks a profound, perhaps even dangerous, detachment from reality. He doesn't deliver his stories as "jokes"; to him, a polar bear attack or a blue silencer is as mundane as the weather.
Physicality: Lanky, perhaps slightly unkempt, with eyes that seem to see things three inches behind the person he’s talking to. He should have a voice that can jump from a conspiratorial whisper to a booming, tone-deaf baritone without warning.
SHE (Female, 20s–30s)
“SHE” is the emotional anchor of the film, representing the quiet desperation of urban isolation. She isn't a "victim" of his stories; she is a consumer of them. She is so starved for a narrative in her life that she is willing to accept his, no matter how jagged the edges.
KEYWORDS
Mad Love, Nuart Theater, Mark Crutch, Experimental, Short film, Adaptation, John Guare, African American
SCREENING
Release Dates: 02/11/2008 (11 February 2008)
Release Details: Midnight Screening at the Landmark Nuart Theatre, West Los Angeles
Runtime: 11min
Rating: PG-13
Production Company: Poiintcomma
Format: 4k
Network: Inartmedia Originals
Format: Streaming
PRESS RELEASE
This announcement serves as a strategic revival of an under-the-radar 2008 experimental short film, aiming to reposition it for renewed interest in today's indie film landscape. It highlights the work's origins as an inventive cinematic adaptation of a stage play. https://prfree.org/@pointcomma/rediscover-the-allure-of-mad-love-a-surreal-exploration-of-romance-and-memory-in-experimental-cinema-q4cbfghxaqd5
FILMS EXTERNAL LINKS
Mad Love (2008) Official Website:
https://sites.google.com/view/inartmedia/mad-love-2008
TheMovieDB
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1631823-mad-love
TheTVDB
https://thetvdb.com/movies/mad-love-373543
Wikidata
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138296822
INSPIRATION:
Adapted from the screenplay by John Guare, “The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year.”
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