Man Bites Dog (The Criterion Collection)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: André Bonzel, Jean-Marc Chenut, Olivier Cotica, Rémy Belvaux, Rachel DemanBrand: N/A
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
Published: 2002-09-01
DVD Release Date: 2002-09-24
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of Man Bites Dog (The Criterion Collection)
Movie Review: Darling I don't know why I go to Extremes
Summary: 5 Stars
Let's get one thing straight right now: look carefully at Criterion's cover picture for "Man Bites Dog". Zoom in on it, take your time; I'll wait.
Got it? All clear in your mind what the Bad Man with the Gun is doing on the cover? That's right, that's a baby binky flying up out of that cloud of blood and brains and clotted gore.
Why a binky? Because I expect the baby was sucking on it before our hero Ben (Benoit Poelvoorde) showed up to do his thing.
His thing is killing people: men, women, postal workers, clerks, schoolgirls, elderly women with bad tickers, little kids, entire families. Come to think of it, "killing" doesn't get close to describing what Ben does to his victims---I'm thinking 'butcher' is closer to the truth. Anyway, a man's gotta have a hobby, and Ben sticks to what he knows best: slaughtering in pretty much every fashion imaginable.
Best of all, "Man Bites Dog" charts the rampaging wild rumpus of a whacked-out Belgian killer through the streets, attics, dive bars and country lanes by means of a documentary film crew---complete with narrator, camera-man, and two sound guys!---who follow and film Benoit's every brutal move.
Why did I start by asking you to check out the DVD cover art? Because you should know what you're getting into: this is a sick film. This is a warped, deranged, merciless little nugget of pure, horrible filth. If you get offended easily, if you're disturbed by what amounts to a stinking cinematic toilet of human filth and barbarity, if you find yourself saying "I'm Appalled!" a lot---trust me, stop reading, and stay far away from "Man Bites Dog".
Alright, are the Legions of the Appalled gone? Whew, excellent---now we can talk. "C'est Arrive Pres de Chez Vous" (which means "It Happened Close to your House", bafflingly translated stateside as "Man Bites Dog"; I don't know, don't ask---but it works) is one of the sickest, bleakest, funniest flicks I have ever seen, and perhaps the only decent thing to come out of Belgium besides the waffles.
Originally a student film shot with practically zero budget, "Man Bites Dog" astounds on a technical level: the cheap, grainy film and the bumping herky-jerky warzone feel of the photography add to the seamless, searing reality. The film crew that follows our snarky assassin around is the actual film crew that masterminded this brutal nugget of horror: director Remy Belvaux (Remy the reporter), director of photography Andre Bonzel (Andre the Cameraman)---even trigger-man Benoit worked on the screenplay.
We don't exactly know what Ben is, or how he makes his money and gets around: is he an assassin, petty criminal, mass murderer, happy sadist, philosopher? Does he do contract killing, or just slaughter people for sh*ts, giggles, and money?
The point seems to be: who knows? Who cares? Who says there has to be a reason? In the meantime:
*MARVEL as Ben regales his film crew with his thoughts on art, architecture, music, and social justice! Take a jaunt with him to hear his favorite floutist Jenny (Jenny Drye, who suffers a fate that shouldn't happen to a dog)show off her pipes!
*SWOON as Ben demonstrates: the best way to suffocate a victim with a plastic bag! PLUS---how to get rid of those pesky bodies using a tarp, a little rope, and a handy drainage ditch!
*EMPATHIZE as Ben complains about the lack of good help in holding down a potential victim these days, lecturing his film crew about the one that got away!
*APPROVE as Ben hangs wif da homeyz and accepts no sh*t on his birthday. Admit it: in his shoes, you'd do the same.
*SING with Benny as he shows off his singing voice after getting thrown out of a bar! See if you're not crooning "CINEMA! CINEMAAAAA!" long after the credits roll.
LAUGH as Ben and his film crew run into another serial killer---followed about by his *own* documentary film crew! Bullets fly, celluloid rolls!
Some reviewers try to gussy this thing up as an "astute social commentary". Come on. "Man Bites Dog" is divinely inspired, and it is what it is: it is honest, brutal, deadly, black gleeful fun. "Man Bites Dog"---I'll be honest---is terrible, perhaps, but it is also liberating.
There is something in many of us---perhaps most of us---that languishes beneath the shackles of our politically correct high-minded Republic of Nice (the bane and curse of 21st century democracies, where everyone takes pains not to offend)---something that longs for firebombs, and midnight massacres, and death squads: rapine, torture, carnage on a massive scale. I'm not saying that's not demonic, but the truth is---that Demon lurks in all of us. "Man Bites Dog" opens up the pen and slips the collar off for 90 minutes.
You'll laugh; maybe, if you're still human, you'll feel guilty about it afterwards (I didn't, but I'm a jaded creature). Ben is trenchant, witty, funny, totally loyal to his friends and devoted to his parents. He is, in his own warped way, considerably moral. He just happens to have shifted left where many of us shimmied right, and kills people for amusement, mega-bucks, and GREAT door prizes!
Whatever: see it. You'll find it is entirely possible to be deeply morally offended *and* laugh like a madman.
JSG
Summary of Man Bites Dog (The Criterion Collection)
Documentary filmmakers André and Rémy have found an ideal subject in Ben. He is witty, sophisticated, intelligent, well liked-and a serial killer. As André and Rémy document Ben's routines, they become increasingly entwined in his vicious program, sacrificing their objectivity and their morality. Controversial winner of the International Critics' Prize at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, Man Bites Dog stunned audiences worldwide with its unflinching imagery and biting satire of media violence.This Belgian satire (in French with English subtitles) is dark, dark, dark--but also right on the money in its sly sendup of the media's fascination with violence and its complicity therein. This mock documentary has a trio of filmmakers shooting a cinéma vérité feature about a garrulous serial killer who lets the film crew follow him around as he selects victims and then dispatches them. But at what point does filmmaking become participation? These hapless documentarians soon find out as their subject eventually pulls them into his world, including a gun battle with a rival film crew and their own criminal star. Gruesomely hilarious, with a deadpan wit that's hard to resist. --Marshall Fine
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