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Directed by: Rémy Belvaux Starring: Benoît Poelvoorde Man Bites Dog is a Belgian film that uses a documentary style and follows the daily routines of a serial killer named Benoît. At first the filmmakers are left unseen behind the camera, but as the movie progresses, they become active participants in Benoît's random murders. This was the greatness of the film for me - seeing this film crew losing all objectivity of their subject and becoming accomplices to murder. I know it's a trite expression, but this movie is not for the squeamish. There are some moments in this movie that are like nothing I've ever seen in my life. One particular murder made my jaw hit the floor - the smothering of the young child in his bedroom. Totally gut wrenching. We'll never see anything like this in American theaters. I almost felt sick seeing it. But still, I get enjoyment out of feeling things I've never felt before during a movie. And throughout everything, the film carries a dark - rather, pitch black - sense of humor. This humor comes mainly from the contrast of Benoît's actions with his nonchalant and likeable personality. He truly seems to have no sense of right or wrong. It's oddly comical, yet frightening at the same time. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone except those who get enjoyment from being shocked, and can find humor in dark, dark, dark subject matter. If that sounds like you at all, do yourself a favor and see this. 4/5 And it wouldn't be proper to talk about Man Bites Dog without showing the cover: http://fi.somethingawful.com/is/img3/5416/165_box_348x491.jpg PROS: Intriguing, shocking, unpredictable, and totally original. Benoît is a truly disturbing character. CONS: The violence may be too much for some people. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103905/ Spatulater bro! fucked around with this message at 05:47 on May 4, 2004 |
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May 4, 2004 05:44
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This movie has a lot of fun with its audience (though sometimes at their expense). It tests the boundaries of what a film can get away with in relation to the viewer, which is an interesting concept. In a way, it reminds me of The Birds, which is also an excercise in challenging the audience's willingness to go along with the filmmaker.
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May 4, 2004 05:48
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A hilarious black comedy. Benoît's non-chalant style of speech resembles what you might see the presenter of a documentary use and is quite funny at times. The movie can also be shocking at points, such as the already mentioned child smothering scene. Overall, an interesting, darkly funny and occasionally shocking movie. 5/5
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Jun 17, 2004 17:46
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a very neat little film. i thought the "shocking content" was somewhat overrated, but maybe i'm just used to disturbing films, or something along those lines. but still, very neat. 4.5. janklow fucked around with this message at 06:40 on Jun 18, 2004 |
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Jun 18, 2004 06:20
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Like many members of this forum, the internet has made me very jaded. At the beginning of the movie I was thinking about how exciting the plot was, how cool Ben was, and how hilarious the movie was ("I buried two Arabs in that wall over there. Facing Mecca of course"). Although towards the beginning there were a few quite brutal murders, I became very disturbed duing the child smothering scene. As the movie continued I became increasingly disturbed and somewhat repulsed. The Kill Bill 2 eye scene has nothing on this movie. I enjoyed how the movie did not cover every single event that occured, and how some things made sense based on the context. Overall a shockeningly enjoyable movie that I would recommend to anyone who can stomach it. 4.5/5
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Jun 26, 2004 01:46
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Just caught this for the first time on IFC a few days ago... Disturbing, yes, but it's an incredible film. It's oddly comical and really feels like a documentary. And the ending was more or less ripped-off for The Blair Witch Project. 5/5
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Jun 26, 2004 15:29
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Watched this last night. A very dark comedy that is an excellent attack on the media's bloodlust, and willingness to do anything for a story. Although the murders may not be as graphic as in some other movies, something about the way they are executed makes them very disturbing. 4/5
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Sep 1, 2004 16:18
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This is one of a bunch of films that highlight sympathetic amoral protagonsits that came out in (approx) early-mid-90's. Myself, I embrace them, as the standard "goodguy" really has nothing new to offer in these times. The standard "black & white" formula is almost laughable these days. A thing I've been noticing, that any deviation from the standard, outsider position, has been far more interesting than playing by the established rules. I think this movie captured that zeitgeist perfectly. Besides, there's some really good comedy here.
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Sep 4, 2004 10:43
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Boring and pretentious. At least that's how I remember it, being more than a year since I've seen it. 2
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Sep 4, 2004 20:12
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Has not aged well, but still has its moments. 5.0/5.5 Judakel fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Dec 4, 2013 |
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Sep 4, 2004 22:31
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Man Bites Dog is okayish--interesting, but not nearly as funny or shocking as I was lead to believe. The humour seemed to arise from the fact that you can't not laugh when a killer tells a joke, and the uncomfortability wore on me after a while. There was nothing exclusively funny about Benoit. Also, I didn't find much shocking besides the rape--most of the killings looked ludicrously fake. And I know Benoit explained things in terms of what crimes the media wants to cover, but in seeing how sloppy his execution was, it's completely unfathomable that he got away with his crimes that many goddamn times. It was original though, some of the camera shots were neat, and I liked the ending. Three.
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Sep 10, 2004 07:32
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