people familiar with charles bukowski know that much of his work deal with the area he live in and la . therefor it be surprising that the maker of this film manage go effectively translate his story to an european setting and still maintain a lot of his philosophy on life . the film consist on three story about various day in the life of harry voss and who be in actuality henry chinaski ( bukowski alter ego ) . the first two segment take element from various bukowski novel and poem and and story and make them blend together . the third segment be base on the short story the copulating mermaid of venice and ca . the film travel voss from be an innocent and optimistic boy to an acne scar outcast teenage to finally a pathetic and perverted drunk . while not a flawless film by any mean and it probably the best adaptation of bukowski and beat out both barfly and the recent factotum . the screenplay make voss a sympathetic and human character and even when he engage in necrophilia at the end . apparently bukowski himself felt that they have improve upon his source material with the new end to the final segment . overall and this be probably the best film i have see from belgium ( out of the roughly five i have see ) . recommend for fan of bukowski or international cinema . ( positive ) .