MovieChat Forums > Crazy Love (2007) Discussion > Pugach is frightening, literally

Pugach is frightening, literally

posted 17 years ago by Rurik_Snorri
6 replies | jump to latest

Some of you may be interested to learn that Burt's last name, "Pugach", literally means 'someone who is out to frighten you' in Russian and Ukrainian. In fact it almost sounds like "bogeyman". Eastern European names, particularly Ukrainian have some strange origins and etymologies. Ex "Mogyla" means grave. I suppose it's like the English last name "Graves". But in this particular instance it's pretty insane and sinister.

BTW the movie was very disappointing and disturbing not for the story but for the director's pov or lack of it thereof and for the upbeat tone of something insanely sick and brutal and disturbing. Read Manohla Dargis' review in the NY Times, she hits the nail on the head.

[–] imdbyes 17 years ago

That is interesting about his last name, woulda never known but it very fitting, isn't it? And I will have to check out Manohla Dargis review,, I remember when she used to write for the LA weekly, I couldn't stand her reviews, lol.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] mintonmedia 17 years ago

Ditto on Manohla Dargis. The NY Times loss is the LA Times and LA Weekly's gain.

BTW, Magnolia Dumbass (as I used to call her) is wrong on THIS one, too. It's an excellently crafted, frightening, fascinating film that gives us enough information to form our own opinions and, in doing so, makes us question our assumptions about sanity and insanity, love and hate, obsession and compromise, racism and sexism and, ultimately, the uses and abuses of intelligence and the sometimes terrible choices we must make in the face of adversity.

My date and I sat in the theatre for at around fifteen minutes afterwards discussing it and, on our way out, ran into and chatted briefly with a single mother who, not knowing beforehand what the film was about and since it was the only non-subtitled film playing in the arthouse multiplex, had actually seen it with her 6-year-old daughter in tow. While I had been judgmental when I'd grown aware that a small child was watching this very adult story (and would certainly never bring someone that young to a film like this), it turns out the little girl was not only not traumatized by the film but actually more perceptive about it than Ms. Dargis.

When I asked if she'd learned anything from the film, she simply said, "Just because someone says they love you doesn't mean they really do." From the mouths of babes...

You read it here. Now go forth and preach it!

[–] ARoggen 10 years ago

That is so interesting about the names! I think Eastern Europe is like another world, like a fairy tale. (I have family in the East.) I always think people in Prague look so interesting, like bogeymen or ogres, like fairy tales. I always feel like maybe I don't want to see what is under the surface or behind the next door. Makes sence that some names in Eastern Europe reflect this.

I wonder if Burt knew this about his name.

About the film. I didn't like the first part. But then as it went on, I felt that for me, the fun, swept along on this relationship ride with them as we watched underscored that we also had sick feelings in our stomachs watching Burt talk, and Linda, too. To me, it underscored that we still knew that we are dealing with crazy, and Linda was on notice, and her family, too, and she could have cut it off way before it got to her injury. It's all fun and easy, but you still know he's way off and dangerous.

[–] CheruthCutestory 9 years ago

She DID cut it off before it got to her injury. She was engaged to another man.

Guess who has two thumbs, speaks limited French, and hasn't cried once today? This moi.

[–] iamgrootinapot 10 years ago

OP - Your thread literally gave me chills when I read what his last name meant. So CREEPY!